OAN Staff James Meyers
3:15 PM – Thursday, August 1, 2024
Utah’s Supreme Court upheld an abortion ban on Thursday, keeping Utah’s previous abortion law in effect while the case challenging the ban’s constitutionality proceeds in the lower court.
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In a 4-1 ruling for Planned Parenthood of Utah v. State of Utah, the state’s high court determined that the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah had standing to challenge the law.
Thursday’s decision in Planned Parenthood v. Utah means that Utah’s “trigger law” banning abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother, will remain on hold.
The panel wrote in its opinion that the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah had legal standing to challenge the state’s abortion law, and that a lower court acted within its purview when it initially blocked the ban.
Democrats applauded the decision, because now abortion will remain legal up to 18 weeks as state Republicans have been pushing for a six-week ban.
Utah lawmakers passed the current abortion law in 2020, and they were later challenged by abortion activists after the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Kathryn Boyd, the president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, celebrated the ruling on Thursday and said that she hopes the lower court will ultimately ban the current abortion law.
“Today’s decision means that our patients can continue to come to us, their trusted health care providers, to access abortion and other essential reproductive services right here in Utah,” Boyd said. “While we celebrate this win, we know the fight is not over.”
Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R-Utah.) said that he was disappointed by the court further delaying the law’s implementation, but he hopes that it will only be a temporary setback.
Senator Dan Mckay (R-Utah.), the sponsor of the abortion law, told reporters on Thursday after the ruling that the legislature will most likely change the 18-week limit to a six-week limit as a “short term solution” while the “trigger law” is tied up in litigation.
A special legislative session on abortion is also a possibility this year, he said.
Meanwhile, a number of Utah Republicans criticized the ruling.
“The Utah Legislature thoughtfully acted to ensure the state had a strong policy in place to protect both the unborn and the life of the mother. We are deeply disappointed by the Utah Supreme Court’s ruling today preventing our state’s abortion law from taking effect more than two years after the Dobbs decision,” they said. “Through this ruling, the Utah Supreme Court is undermining the constitutional authority of the Legislature to enact laws as elected representatives of the people of Utah.”
Abortion is expected to play a major factor in the November elections, with abortion-related ballot measures going before voters in at least six states.
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