Global Courant 2023-04-28 16:59:06
A judge in Utah will consider Friday a request from Planned Parenthood to delay implementation of a statewide ban on abortion clinics, which takes effect next week.
Planned Parenthood argues that a state law passed earlier this year will effectively end access to abortion statewide when clinics become unable to apply for the permits they have relied on in the past next week to operate.
The organization operates three of Utah’s four clinics that offer abortions. It states that by banning clinics, the Utah legislature was “seeking an alternative means” to further restrict abortions pending a ruling by the state Supreme Court on a “trigger law” that would ban most abortions regardless of trimester.
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“Women will be forced to carry pregnancies to term against their will; to stay pregnant until they can leave the state to access this critical, time-sensitive medical care…or to attempt to arrange their abortions themselves outside the medical system.” Planned Parenthood said in its motion earlier this month asking the court to delay enforcing the clinic ban.
The clinic ban is the latest attempt by Utah lawmakers to restrict abortion and comes less than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That decision led to two previously passed laws: a ban on abortion after 18 weeks in 2019 and a ban on abortion in 2020 regardless of trimester, with several exceptions, including cases of risk to the mother’s health and reports of rape or incest. the police.
On June 28, 2022, there is a Planned Parenthood clinic in Salt Lake City, Utah. A Utah court will consider a request from Planned Parenthood to delay the implementation of a statewide ban on abortion clinics. (AP photo/Rick Bowmer, file)
The state-owned Planned Parenthood has sued over the 2020 ban. Last July, a judge delayed its implementation until legal issues could be resolved. The 18-week ban has since become de facto law.
If the clinic ban goes into effect, the licensing of clinics will transfer most abortions to hospitals, which generally do not specialize in low-cost outpatient abortions, including dispensing the abortion pill. In Utah, clinics offer 95% of abortions.
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The law will come into effect on May 3, after which abortion clinics will no longer be able to apply for a license. It would institute a full ban on January 1, 2024 by stripping all clinics of their licenses.
While state officials have said clinics’ licenses will be maintained until then, Planned Parenthood has warned it reads the law differently and fears exposing clinicians to legal liability and making abortion a crime. They have said that, without intervention, they plan to stop performing abortions in their clinics.
