This is not the Onion. This is actual news from planet Earth in the year 2019. The Utah State Legislature has passed a bill on last Tuesday that repealed the misdemeanor crime of fornication, making sex outside of marriage legal in the state.

According to FOX13 Salt Lake City, the House passed Senate Bill 43 with a 41-32 vote. The bill was sent to Republican Gov. Gary Herbert for his signature or veto. It was unclear if he supports the bill. Some conservative members of the state House did not like the bill and voted against it. Remember, this was last Tuesday in the year 2019. Not in 1546.

“What is legally is often far below what is morally right,” said state Republican Rep. Kevin Stratton, who objected to the bill. “And I recognize our laws are not strong enough to rule an immoral people.”

Sex between unmarried people was criminalized in 1973, but the regulation was largley not enforced.