Utah legislature: Is sex while unconscious OK? 
 
 A Utah bill clarifying that unconscious people cannot consent to sexual intercourse made it out of committee Tuesday — but not before vigorous debate between state representatives. 
 
 The idea that unconscious people cannot provide consent “makes sense in a first date scenario,” Rep. Brian Greene (R) said during the debate, “but, to me, not where people have a history of years of sexual activity.” 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 HB 74, sponsored by Rep. Angela Romero (D), would alter existing state law so that one cannot assume consent from an unconscious person or someone incapacitated by “mental defect.” The bill ultimately made it out of committee with unanimous support, though Romero does expect more dissent when the bill hits the House floor and State Senate chamber later this session. 
 
 “Is there any scenario under which a person could have sex with a [sic] unconscious person that would not constitute rape under this change?” Greene asked. 
 
 Donna Kelly of the Utah Prosecution Council responded to Greene that, under the bill, “consent is a decision that has to be made at the time of the act” and prior consent would not make sex with an unconscious person permissible. She did note that a victim would need to bring charges against the assailant, preventing, in her mind, any misunderstanding. 
 
 Rep. Keven Stratton (R) likewise asked the committee, “If a husband and wife both are conscious and they engage in the intimate relationship, and later one claims I didn’t give my consent for that … it wouldn’t be assumed because you’re married and there’s no other mitigating [factor] that there was consent?” 
 
 Kelly responded, “absolutely.” 
 
 The clarification helps both the prosecutor and the defense more accurately follow the letter of the law, Romero said in an interview. 
 
 “When you look at sexual violence in general, a lot of it is under-reported,” said Romero, who doesn’t believe that the law will “open the door” to reckless prosecution, as Rep. Greene suggested. 
 
 “We represent different worlds and perspectives,” she added. “Where I view the world, anytime anyone’s unconscious, I don’t care if they’re married…you have no right as an individual to try to have a sexual relationship with them.” 
 
 Rep. Greene did not respond to requests for comment. 
 
 Romero’s legislation, co-sponsored by State Sen. Todd Weiler (R), provides a less stringent standard for consent than California’s “Yes-means-Yes” law which requires continuous consent to be expressed throughout a sexual encounter, though it does clarify Utah state law so that an assault victim needn’t have expressed a lack of consent at the time of the incident. 
 
 Efforts to update state laws on rape like Utah’s are common, said Fatima Goss Graves of the National Women’s Law Center, but a real debate over whether spousal rape is possible is something she “hasn’t seen in a long time.” 
 
 “Those sorts of views and comparisons of women to property typically aren’t modern comparisons.” 
 
 The bill’s introduction comes after a 2013 case in which a Rodger William Kelly was charged with rape after having sex with an unconscious woman on her porch in St. George, Utah. According to court documents, Kelly claimed he was trying to warm the woman up and “save her life.” 
 
 CORRECTION: The original version of this article mischaracterized a quote from Rep. Brian Greene. 
 
 Authors: 

 The Utah House of Representatives (Photo: Rick Bowmer, AP) 
 
 A Utah lawmaker apologized Wednesday for questioning whether a man who has sex with his unconscious spouse should be charged with rape. 
 
 Republican state Rep. Brian Greene said in a statement he supports a bill to make it clear that an unconscious person can't consent to sex but was worried about unintended consequences of the measure. 
 
 "I'm sorry for any unintended pain that my statements have caused," he said. "I abhor sexual assault under any circumstances, including within marriage." 
 
 On Tuesday, Greene rocked victims' advocates with his discussion of consent during debate on the bill. 
 
 "If an individual has sex with their wife while she is unconscious ... a prosecutor could then charge that spouse with rape, theoretically," Greene said, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. "That makes sense in a first-date scenario, but to me, not where people have a history of years of sexual activity." 
 
 In his statement, Greene said his comments had been taken out of context and "have allowed my intentions to be misinterpreted." 
 
 He said he was attempting to "clarify the issue" of removing consent from Utah rape law. He noted he had voted for the bill as it passed unanimously out of committee. 
 
 "I strongly support closing any loopholes that allow offenders to evade prosecution, and I believe this bill does that," Greene said. 
 
 Holly Mullen, director of the Rape Recovery Center, told USA TODAY she had not expected a debate. 
 
 "I was shocked," Mullen said. "He's a lawyer, you think he would know better. He just went off on a tangent. But with the kind of work we do, we realize that so many people don't understand this issue." 
 
 Victims' advocates are pressing for rules to make clear that sex without consent constitutes rape. Greene supported the bill in committee — it passed unanimously Tuesday. But Mullen said she was concerned because Greene also said the bill might need some changes before the full House. That could come later this week. 
 
 "We don't know what to expect," she said. We didn't see this coming, even in conservative Utah." 
 
 Democratic Rep. Brian King was unwilling to leave a loophole for spousal behavior. The Tribune quoted him as saying that sex with anyone who is unconscious "is rape. Period. End of story. Let's make the statute clear. Let's not dance around it." 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1DGmGro
– A Utah bill stating that unconscious people cannot consent to sex proved to be more controversial than expected when it came before a legislative committee earlier this week. Rep. Brian Greene wondered if it meant that somebody who had sex with an unconscious spouse could be charged with rape, saying a rape charge "makes sense in a first date scenario, but to me, not where people have a history of years of sexual activity," the Salt Lake Tribune reports. After at least one other Republican voiced similar concerns, an attorney from the Utah Prosecution Council explained that under the bill, "consent is a decision that has to be made at the time of the act" and you "cannot give consent to sexual activity if you're unconscious." Sex with an unconscious person "is rape. Period. End of story," Democratic Rep. Brian King told the committee, according to the Tribune. Greene ended up voting for the bill and apologized for his comments yesterday, saying he abhors "sexual assault under any circumstances, including within marriage." The director of the Rape Recovery Center tells USA Today she hadn't expected a debate and was shocked by Greene's comments. "He's a lawyer, you think he would know better," she says. "But with the kind of work we do, we realize that so many people don't understand this issue." The bill was introduced after a 2013 case where a man claimed he had sex with an unconscious neighbor on her porch to keep her warm and "save her life," Politico reports.