Utah Lawmaker Proposes Ban on Sex-Selective Abortion
December 4, 2012 — Utah Sen. Margaret Dayton (R) is planning a bill that would prohibit abortions based on the sex of the fetus, the AP/U-T San Diego reports. Dayton is considering adding a ban on race-selective abortions to the bill as well (AP/U-T San Diego, 12/1).
Karrie Galloway, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said the bill is a "solution looking for a problem."
If enacted, the bill would make Utah the fourth state -- behind Arizona, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania -- to ban sex-selective abortion. In May, the U.S. House rejected a similar bill that would have banned sex-selective abortions and penalized health care providers who performed them.
Sex-selective abortion is most common in areas of the world where son preference is pervasive, including parts of China, India and Pakistan (Romboy, Deseret News, 11/30).
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Repro Health Watch — an exciting new edition of the Women’s Health Policy Report — compiles and distributes media coverage of proposed and enacted state laws and ballot initiatives affecting women's access to comprehensive reproductive health care, as well as litigation in response to those provisions.
