Victim Services Amendments is one of two bills this session that would cut off the abortion ban exception for victims at 18 weeks.
Under that ban — which passed in 2020 and went into effect in June before being blocked by a district court judge — rape and incest victims are required to report the crime to law enforcement before seeking an abortion. Birkeland’s bill requires doctors to document how they are verifying that crimes have been reported, and she has said that data collected would inform future policy.
The bill has changed significantly since Birkeland announced she was opening the bill file last summer. At the time, she said victims would need to provide doctors with a law enforcement-generated case number before having an abortion.
Her sister, who considered an abortion after being sexually assaulted years ago, told The Salt Lake Tribune in October why she opposed such a measure. It was not included in the final language of the bill.