New Utah law requires fathers to pay half a woman’s expenses during pregnancy. The hope for the bill, sponsored by Republican Representative Brady Brammer, is to ease the burden on pregnant women.

It was signed by Governor Spencer Cox after gaining support from GOP lawmakers in the state, but some critics of the law argued that the new legislation would not help women who are most vulnerable and abusive situations for pregnant women, ABC, could worsen news reports.

“We want to help people and actually be pro-life like we do, as opposed to fighting abortion,” said Brammer of the bill. “One way to help with this was to ease the burden of pregnancy.”

The bill would specifically cover a woman’s health insurance premiums and any pregnancy-related medical care. An abortion without the father’s consent is excluded from his financial responsibility, unless the pregnancy is a consequence of rape or the mother’s life is in danger because of the pregnancy.

In the event of a dispute, the paternity of the child is determined before the father is obliged to pay. Some claimed the bill would only help wealthy women who have wealthy partners because some of the money it costs to take legal action to get prenatal support is not affordable.

While Utah is the first state to have a child prenatal child support bill, states like New York and Wisconsin have some regulations on pre-natal expenses, the Associated Press reported.

This new law follows a number of other measures Utah has taken against abortion, including one that makes abortions illegal if the US Supreme Court overturns a ruling legalizing them in the US in danger or rape or incest occurred

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Katrina Barker told the AP she supports women who are getting more financial aid, but there are better ways to do it, like expanding Medicaid, providing access to contraception, and providing paid parental leave.

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