
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 10, 1991                   TAG: 9103100004
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SALT LAKE CITY                                LENGTH: Short

ABORTION-LAW `OVERSIGHT': IT'S MURDER

The sponsor of the state's strict anti-abortion law says he intends to fix a provision of the law that would allow prosecutors to bring murder charges against women who terminate their pregnancies.

"It isn't as serious as it appears," said Republican state Sen. LeRay McAllister. "It was an oversight that was not corrected. But we fully intend to do that, and we will do that in a special session or next year."

McAllister said women who have abortions will not be prosecuted on murder charges `because Gov. Norm Bangerter has suspended enforcement of the act pending resolution of promised lengthy court challenges against it.

The new law is considered the nation's toughest. It bans abortions except in cases of rape or incest, providing the operation is performed no later than 20 weeks into the pregnancy; in cases of grave danger to the mother's medical health, or if the fetus suffers grave defects.

While the act provides criminal penalties for doctors performing illegal abortions - a $5,000 fine and up to five years in prison - McAllister said it wasn't meant to include women seeking abortions.

American Civil Liberties Union attorneys, researching a planned constitutional challenge to the law, found the murder-prosecution provision.

They contend that under Utah's existing criminal-homicide statutes, women who have abortions - and doctors performing them - could face capital-homicide charges.

by CNB