Want proof that HB 12 was a bad bill? Well just ask the bills sponsor, Representative Carl Wimmer (R-Herriman-District 52) who is also sponsoring HB 462 – Criminal Homicide and Abortion Revisions.
Now HB 12 was the act of a zealot who could not think beyond sending a message to the arch-conservatives out there that Carl Wimmer is numero uno when it comes to anti-abortion bills, so you should probably send him money so that he can get reelected.
Now, HB 12 was not just pulled out from nowhere. A Vernal woman paid a man to beat her until her child was aborted – truly a horrific act. But, instead of thinking about why this woman went to such extremes to abort her child, Wimmer simply did the knee jerk thing and tried to pass a law.
Well, Wimmer got away with it, with the bill flying through the House and the Senate with little resistance from fellow Republicans; after all, it was an abortion bill from a good fellow Republican, so there should be no harm in voting for the bill. Indeed, as we speak HB 12 is waiting for the signature of the Governor.
Well damn liberals like me, the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and ABC (just to name a few) rightfully called this a barbaric abortion bill as it had the consequence of charging women with homicide in the event of a miscarriage.
So Wimmer, in order to save face and pretend to be the victim has proposed HB 462, a relatively good bill that makes it very clear that a miscarriage does not an abortion make. Basically this bill does what Wimmer intend to do in the first place, make sure that women are not intentionally harming themselves to prevent a birth.
But we should ask ourselves why Wimmer was not so careful in the first place when proposing HB 12. Is it possible that he is a bad lawmaker and does not think about the consequences of his bills? Is it possible that he does think about it, but simply does not care about those who disagree with them – even if they raise very real an very valid points? Is it possible that Wimmer cares more about being the golden child of the Republican Party than doing the will of the people in his district and of the state? Is it possible that Wimmer is a bad legislator?
Well, I know how I feel.
I hope this bill passes, it really is a reasonable abortion bill when you get right down to it – it is just a shame that this bill had to be proposed because we already passed a radical bill before hand. Finally, I would like to point out that if this bill does not make it though in time, HB 12 will (probably) be signed into law and miscarriages could be illegal in Utah until at least next year – when we will have to clean up Wimmer’s mess by proposing a bill similar to this one.










