Demagogue

Via Pandagon, Utah legislators refuse to add an exception to a parental notification and consent law even if her daddy is the daddy. Yup, incest is best and daddy-rapists-child-abusers apparently should have the right to force their daughters to give birth to their sons/grandsons. (shudder)

"There is a life inside of this life. And how that life is taken care of is very important to me," said Sen. Darin Peterson, R-Nephi.

Current Utah law - which was adopted in 1974 - requires doctors to notify a girl's parents before ending her pregnancy. HB85, sponsored by Ogden Republican Rep. Kerry Gibson and Peterson, would change state code to require doctors to get at least one parent's permission 24 hours before the procedure. Doctors could proceed without consent in medical emergencies or to protect the health of the mother.

The bill would allow girls to ask a judge to bypass the parental consent requirement if she fears abuse or is pregnant as a result of incest. At the same time, the legislation still would require a doctor to notify a girl's parents of the abortion, effectively nullifying the judicial bypass.

Salt Lake City Democratic Sen. Scott McCoy tried to amend the bill Monday to grant an exception to the notification requirement in "very narrow situations" where a girl's father also is the father of her baby.

Peterson argued that parental notification "hasn't been a problem" for 30 years. Why would notification after a judicial bypass be a problem? "What we're trying to do is allow a parent a say in what happens in this youth's life," he said.

Once again this reveals the instrinsic message of most anti-abortion laws-- that a fetus, even one conceived by incest-rape, is more important than the general health and well-being of an already-born, fully-fledged woman.

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.