SALT LAKE CITY – Utah’s near-total abortion ban will remain on hold after the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the law should remain blocked until a lower court can weigh in on its constitutionality.
With the decision, abortion remains legal up to 18 weeks under another state law that served as a resource, as the right to abortion was thrown into limbo.
The panel wrote in its opinion that the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah had legal standing to challenge the state’s abortion trigger law and that a lower court acted within its jurisdiction when it initially blocked the ban.
His decision only affects whether restrictions will remain suspended amid new lawsuits and will not decide the final outcome of abortion policy in the state. The case will now be sent back to a lower court to determine whether the law is constitutional.
The law that remains suspended would prohibit abortion except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk or there is a fatal fetal anomaly. A separate state law passed last year also allows abortions up to 18 weeks into pregnancy in cases of rape or incest.
Utah lawmakers passed the triggering law — one of the most restrictive in the country — in 2020 to automatically ban most abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. When Roe fell in June 2022abortion rights advocates in Utah immediately challenged the law, and a district court judge put it on hold a few days later.
Kathryn Boyd, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, celebrated the decision Thursday and said she hopes the trial court eventually strikes down the trigger law so they can continue serving patients without political interference.
“Today’s decision means 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. “As we celebrate this victory, we know the fight is not over.”
In a joint statement, Utah’s Republican legislative leaders, Senate President Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz, accused the state Supreme Court of undermining the Legislature’s constitutional authority to enact laws for the people of Utah.
Several other Republican lawmakers who worked to pass the law, including Davis County Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, criticized the court for keeping it on hold.
“I am extremely disappointed that the Supreme Court was unable to lift the injunction and allow Utah’s abortion law to go into effect,” she said. “It is deeply regrettable that Utah’s strong pro-life law continues to be embroiled in litigation more than two years after the Dobbs decision, resulting in the deaths of thousands of unborn babies in our state.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, most Republican-led states have implemented abortion bans or heavy-handed restrictions. Currently, 14 states impose bans at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Another four have bans that come into effect after about six weeks of pregnancy – before many women realize they are pregnant.
Besides Utah, the only other ban currently lifted due to a court order is in neighboring Utah. Wyoming.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there was no right to abortion in the federal Constitution, a key legal question became whether state constitutions have provisions that protect access to abortion. State constitutions differ and state courts have reached different conclusions. In April, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an abortion ban adopted in 1864 could be enforced — but lawmakers quickly repealed it.
Abortion will be an important issue in the November elections, with abortion-related ballot measures presented to voters in at least six states. In the seven state measures adopted since Roe was overturned, voters have consistently sided with abortion rights supporters.
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