Supporters of the right to an abortion are distressed at Gov. Norm Bangerter for saying government should not pay for the procedure unless the mother's health is in jeopardy.
Bangerter made the comments Thursday during his monthly KUED-TV press conference after being asked whether he supports President Bush for vetoing a measure that would have funded abortions for rape or incest victims."I guess you can worry about all the little moral dilemmas," Bangerter said, when asked what his position would mean to a young woman who is the victim of incest. "I can see better places to put public money."
Mary Carlson, director of community service for Planned Parenthood and a member of the Utah Pro-Choice Coalition, said Bangerter is telling women they will not receive help unless they are wealthy.
"It's unconscionable that people can act so callously toward poor women," Carlson said. "These women have already been victims of a violent crime. To become victims again by a society that doesn't care is sad."
Carlson said she believes a majority of Utahns would support publicly funded abortions for victims of rape and incest. Abortion-rights advocates believe government will eventually pay for those victims anyway, in the form of welfare, care for handicapped children or other services.
However, Bangerter also said he believes the Legislature does not need to pass new abortion restrictions during its 1990 session. He believes state law already is as strict as the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed.
Abortion-rights advocates praised the governor as being prudent for those comments.
On other subjects, the governor said the Wasatch Front needs to make better preparations for an earthquake but, because of huge costs, should not move too quickly. Experts have said Utahns should prepare for an earthquake similar to the one that recently struck the San Francisco area.
"I've seen dramatic building-code changes in the last 30 years," Bangerter, a former developer, said. "We have to work on that prudently. We don't have the luxury of doing it all at once."
Bangerter said building codes probably would be more stringent if the Wasatch Front already had suffered a major quake.
"We ought to learn from others, but human nature is you don't plan for things that haven't yet happened," he said. "That's a hard way to learn."
He also reiterated support for the Winter Olympics. Utahns are scheduled to vote Nov. 7 in a referendum to determine whether tax money should be used to support bringing the Games to the state. Bangerter said the Games can't be held in Utah without public money.
"You don't go out into a state like Utah and raise $40 million in private money," he said.