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Utah Code § 76-7-301.1

Preamble -- Findings and policies of Legislature

Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case State v. MacGuire (2004)

Most recently applied in Carranza v. United States (December 2011)

Amended by Chapter 2, 1991 Special Session 1; Amended by Chapter 2, 1991 Special Session 1

How often courts cite this section

199220002010201110
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) It is the finding and policy of the Legislature, reflecting and reasserting the provisions of Article I, Sections 1 and 7, Utah Constitution, which recognize that life founded on inherent and inalienable rights is entitled to protection of law and due process; and that unborn children have inherent and inalienable rights that are entitled to protection by the state of Utah pursuant to the provisions of the Utah Constitution.

(2) The state of Utah has a compelling interest in the protection of the lives of unborn children.

(3) It is the intent of the Legislature to protect and guarantee to unborn children their inherent and inalienable right to life as required by Article I, Sections 1 and 7, Utah Constitution.

(4) It is also the policy of the Legislature and of the state that, in connection with abortion, a woman's liberty interest, in limited circumstances, may outweigh the unborn child's right to protection. These limited circumstances arise when the abortion is necessary to save the pregnant woman's life or prevent grave damage to her medical health, and when pregnancy occurs as a result of rape or incest. It is further the finding and policy of the Legislature and of the state that a woman may terminate the pregnancy if the unborn child would be born with grave defects.

Official source: Utah State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Utah statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.