Utah Supreme Court to rule on state’s blocked abortion ban Thursday
The Utah Supreme Court said it will rule Thursday as to whether the state’s near-total ban on abortion should remain blocked until a lower court determines the law’s constitutionality. After the U.S. Supreme Court undid the federal precedent that protected abortion as a constitutional right in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah immediately filed to stop Utah’s abortion trigger ban, and a state district court judge put the law on hold within a few days. Since, abortion has remained legal up to 18 weeks in Utah. Depending on the direction of tomorrow’s decision, that gestational limit could remain in place or abortion could be banned in Utah for the foreseeable future — with limited exceptions. Under the 2020 law that the state’s highest court is ruling on, abortion would be prohibited except in cases when the mother’s life is at risk or there is a fatal fetal abnormality. In cases of rape or incest, under a separate law