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 passed last year, abortion would be allowed up to 15 weeks.

Attorney's Camila Vega with Planned Parenthood, left, and Julie Murray with the ACLU, listens to oral arguments involving Utah's abortion trigger law before the Utah Supreme Court, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, in Salt Lake City. The state Supreme Court is weighing a lower court's decision to put a law banning most abortions on hold more than a year ago. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
Attorney's Camila Vega with Planned Parenthood, left, and Julie Murray with the ACLU, listens to oral arguments involving Utah's abortion trigger law before the Utah Supreme Court, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, in Salt Lake City. The state Supreme Court is weighing a lower court's decision to put a law banning most abortions on hold more than a year ago. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool) (Francisco Kjolseth/)

The majority-woman Utah Supreme Court heard arguments in the case nearly one year ago. Justices asked questions on how the original meaning of the state’s constitution extends to this issue, and the boundaries of a person’s right to make medical decisions.

Article IV Section 1 the Utah Constitution says, “The rights of citizens of the State of Utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this State shall enjoy equally all civil, political and religious rights and privileges.”

In the hourslong hearing, attorneys for the state argued that because abortion was restricted when the Constitution was ratified in 1895, the court should interpret that clause to not include abortion rights.

But Camila Vega, a staff attorney for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the state’s founders “could not possibly have imagined a world where abortion is safe, legal and routine.”

According to the most recent data published by the state, there were 3,129 abortions in 2021, 2,978 of which were provided to Utah residents. The vast majority told their doctor they were seeking to terminate their pregnancy for socioeconomic reasons — they couldn’t afford to go through with giving birth and caring for a child.

This story is breaking and may be updated.




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