Utah’s near-total abortion ban to remain blocked until lower court assesses its constitutionality
SALT LAKE CITY — A near-total ban on abortion remains in effect in Utah after the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the law must remain blocked until a lower court considers its constitutionality.
The decision leaves abortion legal until 18 weeks under another state law that served as a safety net when abortion rights were in limbo.
The panel found in its ruling that Planned Parenthood Association of Utah had legal standing to challenge the state’s abortion law and that a lower court had acted within its authority when it initially blocked the ban.
Their ruling affects only whether the restrictions remain suspended amid further legal proceedings and does not determine the ultimate outcome of the state’s abortion policy. The case will now be sent back to a lower court to determine whether the law is constitutional.
The pending trigger bill would ban abortions except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger or there is a fatal fetal abnormality. A separate state law passed this year would allow abortions up to 15 weeks of pregnancy in cases of rape or incest.
Utah lawmakers in 2020 passed the trigger law — one of the most restrictive in the country — 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 U.S. District Court judge put it on hold a few days later.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision, most Republican-led states have passed bans or severe restrictions on abortion. Currently, 14 states maintain bans at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Another four states have bans that go into effect at about six weeks of pregnancy — before many women realize they’re pregnant. Besides Utah, the only other ban currently suspended by injunction is in neighboring Wyoming.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there was no right to abortion in the federal Constitution, a major legal question became whether state constitutions contain provisions protecting abortion access. State constitutions differ, and state courts have reached different conclusions. In April, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an abortion ban passed in 1864 could stand, but lawmakers quickly struck it down.
Abortion is expected to be a major issue in the November elections, with voting measures regarding abortion has been put to voters in at least six states. In the seven statewide measures passed since Roe was overturned, voters have sided with abortion rights advocates every time.