Utah Fathers Now Legally Required to Pay Half of Pregnancy Costs

Biological fathers in Utah will be legally required to pay half of a woman’s out-of-pocket pregnancy costs.

What We Know:

• Critics argue that the new legislation won’t help the women most vulnerable and make abusive situations worse. The new law is unique to the state, and critics say it doesn’t adequately address maternal health care needs. The new measure was presented as an effort to decrease the burden of pregnancy on women and increase responsibility for men who have children. Utah’s Planned Parenthood association notes that it is the first state in the United States to mandate prenatal child support.
• Republicans Governor Spencer Cox and Representative Brady Brammer both support the proposal. Specifically, Bammer is sponsoring the legislation because he’d grown frustrated with the number of anti-abortion measures passing recently.

“We want to help people and actually be pro-life in how we do it as opposed to anti-abortion,” Bammer commented on the matter.

• The bill will apply to pregnant woman’s health insurance premiums and any pregnancy-related medical costs. The father in question will not be required to pay until paternity is established. Additionally, the father won’t be financially responsible for the cost of abortion received without his consent unless it’s necessary to prevent the death of the mother or if the pregnancy was the result of rape.
• Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Katrina Baker believes there are better ways to help women, like expanding Medicaid. Mothers in Utah already have the option to seek support related to birth expenses through the courts, but few of them actually do.
• According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, the average cost of raising a child is $233,610 for a middle-income family. Data from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, about 324,00 pregnant women are abused each year in the United States. The Utah bill is not intended to lower the frequency of abortions, but Bammer believes it could be a potential result. The new legislation comes after recent restrictions on Utah abortions.

The new restrictions would make it a felony for doctors to perform the procedure on pregnant women.