Girl who tried killing her fetus released

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A 17-year-old Utah girl was released from jail after a judge ruled she had not attempted murder when she paid a man to beat her to kill her late-term fetus.

The girl, of Vernal, Utah, paid Aaron Harrison, 21, $150 to beat her, saying her boyfriend would leave her if she did not have an abortion, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Tuesday.

The two allegedly later confessed the plan to police. The girl gave birth to a live child when she was induced in August several days before her due date, the Salt Lake Tribune said.

The judge held that girl's actions constituted a legal attempt at abortion, not murder, and therefore she was not guilty of a crime, the newspaper reported.

"The judge is absolutely stretching. There's no way the judge believes the Utah Legislature left open this loophole (in the law). I guarantee it will be closed this next session," Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said.

The girl's baby is in Utah's custody and was living with foster parents before the ruling in the girl's favor. The girl sought custody of the child before the ruling, and her mother planned to seek custody in the event her daughter were not awarded the child, the newspaper said.