During the last week in February, the Utah state legislature passed a bill making deliberate miscarriage a crime, and defining such an act as illegal abortion. The law stems from a case in the town of Vernal in which a young woman paid a guy to beat her up in an (unsuccessful) attempt to induce a miscarriage. I haven't heard, but I would guess that the state's Republican Governor, Gary Herbert, has already signed this measure into law.
It's fitting that the whole machinery of Utah's state government should turn its full attention to this bizarre incident, which must be an extraordinarily rare and freakish occurrence. As the home of of the singular faith whose followers call themselves Latter Day Saints, while the rest of us refer to them as "the Mormons," Utah is the only state whose government is unapologetically a theocracy. And if you know anything about the LDS Church, you'll know why this theocracy is also necessarily a patriarchy.
I'm certain that one of the biggest supporters of the new anti-deliberate-miscarriage, anti-abortion law was the Utah house majority leader, Republican Kevin Garn. Now it turns out that Garn, who like most of his fellow Utahans is only too willing to monitor the moral conduct of others, had a naked hot tub party with a 15-year-old girl a few years back.
Actually, it was a long time ago -- 25 years to be exact -- and Garn was not a legislator at the time but a 30-year-old, married record company executive. The girl was an employee of his, and there was apparently no sex or illicit touching. Despite that, Garn paid her $150,000 in 2002 to buy her silence when she threatened to go public.
Maybe this is an unwarranted generalization, but it seems to me that those societies which are most thoroughly partiarchal are not only the most likely to strictly curtail women's freedoms, especially any hint of sexual freedom or choice, but are also the most prone to lawlessness when it comes to men's behavior toward those same women and, in this case, girls.
You can find all the dirt that's fit to dish on Kevin Garn, along with his mea culpas and deepest apologies, at Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo.
3 comments:
The key is that women's rights come before the fetuses' and are equal to men's.
Ignore the "the" in "the fetuses'".
The ironic part is that the current Utah legislative session was bookended at the front with the resignation of Senate colleague, former Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, who resigned his Senate seat in December after an arrest for drunk driving and ended with Kevie Garn's astonishing public admission of predatory sexual abuse of his former sunday school pupil and babysitter and employee.
Both senators have been obstructionists and foot draggers on current ethics bills intended to police the legislature. Perhaps the other most shocking aspect is that Garn received a standing ovation from his fellow legislators. and a hug from
Govenor Gary offstage prior to Garn's announcement. breaking news......Garn has resigned.
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