Utah Continues Reckless Efforts to Lock Up Pregnant Women   What
does this mean? Under this bill, pregnant women who “know” that
their cancer medications or other prescription medications could
risk harm or cause pregnancy loss could still be arrested.
Pregnant women who stay with abusive husbands who they “know” to
be angry about the pregnancy could still be arrested under this
law. Pregnant women who continue working in jobs they “know”
pose hazards to their pregnancies could still be arrested under
the law. And even pregnant women who “know” from reading the
side of their cigarette packages that smoking is hazardous to
their pregnancies could be arrested under this law.
Representative Wimmer, the bill’s sponsor, has assured critics
that the bill would only be applied “in the most glaring of
cases.” But whatever his intention, cases from around the
country demonstrate that once law enforcement officials have the
discretion to arrest, and judges have the opportunity to
interpret the law, legislators no long