SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – It's a bill aimed at stopping Utah women from getting abortions just because they don't like the gender of their baby.
And ABC 4 News has learned this bill is now being written by legislative staff
on Utah's Capitol Hill.
On a public list of possible bills for next year's legislative session, one of the bills is called,
"Gender Selection Abortion Prohibition."
The bill’s sponsor, Republican State Senator Margaret Dayton, tells ABC 4 she now has a rough draft of this new abortion bill.
She's also getting input from other state lawmakers and the bill may get debated at January's legislative session.
In a phone conversation Tuesday, Senator Dayton said,
"I think it's a concern. I think there is a need to protect the unborn."
Dayton says gender-selection abortion bills like hers have already been passed in several other states and suggests Utah now might need to take a look at it as well.
But Dayton isn’t just looking at gender; her bill might also try to prevent abortions based on the baby's race.
She told us,
"I feel like it would be very concerning if abortion were performed specifically for the purpose of race. For someone saying I am not interested in having a child the same race as the man that impregnated me."
A similar federal bill was defeated by the U.S. Congress earlier this year.
This bill would, reportedly, have imposed fines and prison terms on doctors performing “gender selective” abortions.
But Senator Dayton told ABC 4 she wants a "reasonable" way to enforce her bill.
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