New Utah Law Requires Biological Fathers To Pay Out-Of-Pocket Pregnancy Costs

According to AP News, the passing of the bill is reportedly an effort to decrease the burdens of pregnancy for women, while increasing the responsibility for men who are expecting children. While some may take a liking to the new law, there are some critics who have proposed the argument that the new law would not be helpful to women who are most vulnerable. They also argued that it could make matters worse for pregnant women who may be in abusive relationships. Utah’s Planned Parenthood Association and the bill’s sponsor notes that the state appears to be the first with prenatal child support authorization. However, states like New York and Wisconsin, have services that lead to fathers being financially responsible for pre-birth expenses.

Republican Rep. Brady Brammer said, “We want to help people and actually be pro-life in how we do it as opposed to anti-abortion. One of the ways to help with that was to help the burden of pregnancy be decreased.” He continued to state that the new bill would apply to “pregnant women’s health insurance premiums and any pregnancy-related medical costs.” If the paternity of a child is unclear and up for discussion, the fathers would not have to pay until after paternity is determined. The bill was not intended to lower the number of abortions, but there are hopes that it could lead to that.