Utah officials will soon fight in court to uphold the trigger law that would protect babies from abortions. They’re asking the Utah Supreme Court to end an injunction on Utah’s abortion trigger law, which was passed before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade to protect babies from abortions.
As LifeNews previously reported, Utah was one of the first states to ban abortions following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. John L. Fellows, the general counsel for the Utah Legislature, authored a letter making it clear that the trigger law in Utah is now in effect and abortions are banned in the state — except in very rare cases such as rape or incest, when the baby is severely disabled or to prevent the death of the mother.
Utah S.B. 174, the Abortion Prohibition Amendments, was signed into law by Republican Gov. Gary Herbert in 2020 but only went into effect after the overturning of Roe.
A second law, the Down Syndrome Nondiscrimination Abortion Act signed by Herbert in 2019, will also fully go into effect as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision. It bans killing babies with Down syndrome in abortions.
But Planned Parenthood of Utah filed a lawsuit seeking to block the state’s abortion ban and a judge blocked it. Judge Andrew Stone sided with the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and the ACLU of Utah during a hearing.
Tomorrow, the Utah Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in relation to the ongoing lawsuit.
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The bill’s Republican sponsor Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, said the trigger ban is about fighting to protect life and defend the unborn.
Meanwhile, pro-life attorneys are still fighting for the abortion ban in court. Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes is fighting court to enforce the state’s trigger law, which will ban abortions and protect the lives of unborn babies.
Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Julia Payne told LifeNews that her group filed a friend-of-the-court brief ADF attorneys in December with the Utah Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood Association of Utah v. State of Utah on behalf of Utah Eagle Forum in support of the state’s pro-life law, which Planned Parenthood is challenging.
“Utah is eager to affirm that life is a human right and, to that end, the state has enacted a pro-life law protecting that most fundamental of rights for the unborn. Pro-life laws like Utah’s also help women by ensuring they have the support they need during a difficult time in their lives. Women deserve access to real health care, not the dangerous and unnecessary procedures Planned Parenthood peddles to make a profit. We are pleased to join in supporting Utah’s effort to protect the lives of unborn children and mothers and urge the state’s high court to reverse the trial court’s injunction halting Utah’s pro-life law.”
