Utah House passes bill on disposition of fetal remains after heated debate over patient choice and dignity

The Utah House voted to approve third substitute House Bill 67 on March 3, 2020, a measure directing health care facilities to offer parents options for the disposition of fetal remains and to treat those remains with dignity. The bill, sponsored in the House by Representative Karianne Lisonbee, passed on a 58–14 roll-call vote and will return to the Senate for further consideration.

Lisonbee told colleagues the bill “says parents should have the right to choose the final disposition of their fetal remains” and framed it as a way to give grieving families closure. She described committee testimony in which women reported returning after miscarriages to find remains already treated as medical waste, saying that the proposal “gives the woman the right to have closure and comfort.”

The chamber spent the bulk of the floor time debating Amendment No. 2, offered by Representative Ward, which…