SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Lawmakers are upset over an abortion ruling by a Vernal juvenile judge.
It stems from a case involving a 17-year old who was accused of paying a may $150 to beat her and prevent the birth.
She was charged with soliciting to commit murder and Aaron Harrsion was charged with attempted murder.
But late last week, Juvenile Judge Larry Steele ruled the "while the minor’s actions were shocking and crude her actions fit the definition for an abortion. She cannot be held criminally liable."
The 17-year old had already pleaded no contest to the charges.
But her mother hired a new attorney to get a second opinion.
Rich King filed the motion to withdraw the plea.
"He (judge) is one hundred percent correct in his interpretation of Utah's law,” King said. “Utah law prohibits prosecution of the girl. A woman cannot be liable for attempting to seek an abortion.”
After 5-months at a youth detention center, the 17year old was released Monday.
"I guess we never thought someone would be this monstrous and do something like this," said Rep. Paul Ray.
Representative Ray sponsored the new abortion laws and said the girl still broke the law.
He claimed the legislature passed a law in which abortions are prohibited after 20 weeks. She was seven months pregnant.
"I'm not sure we can't go after this,” Rep. Ray said. “I would like to see an appeal on it because I think she's outside that window. This is certainly not an abortion, it's murder."
But defense attorney King disagreed with that interpretation of the law.
"The crimes are third degree punishment to those who perform the procedure not the woman who seeks the procedure,” he said.
Judge Steele also ruled Utah's new abortion law doesn't prevent anyone from helping with the abortion, whether it's a doctor or in this case Aaron Harrison.
“What we intended was that to be an attendant-physician relationship not to go out and pay some thug to beat you up to cause you to lose your baby,” Rep. Ray said. “So we need to tighten that up a little bit.”
King filed the motion to withdraw the guilty plea after the family became dissatisfied with the public defender appointed to the case.
