Judge releases beaten teen, citing state's abortion law

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705336508/Beaten-teen-released-on-abortion-law.html

A 17-year-old girl who paid a man to beat her in the hopes of
terminating her pregnancy has been released following a judge's ruling
that her actions were legal based on the state's abortion laws.

Judge Larry Steele said that while the girl's actions were "shocking
and crude," they were, nonetheless, legal under the state's current
definition of abortion. The ruling cites Utah code in defining
abortion as "the intentional termination or attempted termination of
human pregnancy … and includes any and all procedures undertaken to
kill a live unborn child and includes all procedures undertaken to
produce a miscarriage."

The 8th District juvenile-court judge issued the ruling last week. He
said this incident, in which the pregnant girl told police she had
taken the actions because she wanted to have a miscarriage, fits that
definition of the law. The girl is then protected from being held
criminally liable.

The teen initially entered a no-contest plea to the charge of
solicitation of murder but is now protected from criminal action based
on the judge's decision.
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Ultimately, the judge said his hands were tied because of the way the
statute was written.

"Simply put, this is not a choice the court has to make," the ruling
states. "The Utah State Legislature has spoken on the issue of
abortion and, for policy reasons, chose not to hold a woman liable in
situations such as these."

Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said the judge "stretched" the law, and
Wimmer is already taking action to amend the statute. Wimmer said he
was "absolutely outraged" at the decision and is already planning a
bill that will "close that loophole for good."

"I have questions on whether there was really a loophole there in the
first place, but I can guarantee that that loophole will be closed in
the next legislative session," Wimmer said.

The lawmaker said he is working with legislative attorneys to ensure
the bill will prevent "disgusting situations" like this in the future.

"We're going to make sure that that never happens again," Wimmer said.
"Abortion and right to life is the top issue for me, and it is
something I feel very passionate about."

Prosecutors had argued that the woman should be charged because she
was trying to solicit the felony act of murder, but the judge refuted
the position. "The problem with this argument is that the abortion
statute specifically states that a woman cannot be criminally liable
for soliciting the abortion of her unborn child," Steele wrote.