New study suggests doctors are fleeing from Utah's abortion ban
Hits & Misses
By Katharine Biele @kathybiele
A View to a Spill
It's hard to know if the comments were serious. A Deseret News story detailed ongoing problems with Citation Oil & Gas Corp. following a spill that reached Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In the past 35 years, the company had 20 spills near the border of the monument, and it didn't report all of them. "Bacteria and the sun really are good at breaking it down," said one commenter. "Crude oil is a natural organic material. This is not a big deal," said another. And then there was, "Let's get rid of regs altogether." A Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance attorney noted there's "no incentive from the operators' perspective to shut down these nominally producing wells. And that's very problematic because they've been allowed to operate in this manner now for decades." Leasing fees are low even if there's not much production. But it kind of looks like that production is being wasted by spills and discovered by hikers.
Housing Crash
It's a campaign issue, and probably should be. Despite some efforts, however uncoordinated, to create 197 deeply affordable housing units in Salt Lake, millions of dollars went unspent or were inaccessible until a developer first began work without a permit and then threw his hands up in surrender. The city needed legal assurances that permanent housing would result, but for some reason that didn't happen before the deal. There was little if any oversight or coordination as the spokes of the wheel all moved in different directions. Here's what the mayor told The Salt Lake Tribune: "For the other million, I'm grateful to have flexibility to be responsive with what needs come up almost every year that were not anticipated but are urgent regarding people needing shelter and service provision and public safety." Whatever that means.
What's Up, Docs?
The Legislature is getting exactly what it wants. "New OB-GYNs are making career decisions based on the states' reproductive laws," The Salt Lake Tribune reports. It seems that doctors don't want to work in a state where their decisions are based on something other than the health of the patient. The findings are based on a study by the Guttmacher Institute, which found Utah's abortion laws "restrictive" and uncertain as the Utah Supreme Court considers whether to activate a "trigger law" making the state among the "most restrictive." The study's data came from the University of Utah School of Medicine, which surveyed more than 300 residents. One in five said they changed their intended destination after the Dobbs decision. "This is going to dramatically impact patient outcomes," Alex Woodcock, M.D., told Fox13. "I predict that I just uncovered kind of the tip of the iceberg." What does it mean? For women, longer wait times and increased morbidity and mortality. For the Legislature, a win for those spirit babies waiting to be born.
About The Author
Katharine Biele
A City Weekly contributor since 1992, Katharine Biele is the informed voice behind our Hits & Misses column. When not writing, you can catch her working to empower voters and defend democracy alongside the League of Women Voters.
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