Utah judge delays implementing statewide abortion clinic ban

A Utah judge has ruled that the state law banning abortion clinics cannot take effect on Wednesday as scheduled amid a lawsuit filed by the state’s largest abortion provider

Abortion Clinics Utah (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A Utah judge ruled on Tuesday that a recently passed state law banning abortion clinics cannot take effect on Wednesday as scheduled while the court deliberates over a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood.

Judge Andrew Stone's decision to grant Planned Parenthood's request will allow the four clinics that provide abortions in Utah to remain licensed to operate fully. The law would have stopped abortion clinics from getting licenses beginning on Wednesday and fazed out existing ones by next year.

Planned Parenthood argued the law would have effectively ended access to abortion throughout Utah, where clinics provide 95% of abortions.

Abortion remains legal up to 18 weeks in the state as the court weighs another challenge that, if implemented, would ban abortions regardless of trimester, with several exceptions including instances of risk to maternal health as well as rape or incest reported to the police. ___ This story corrects the day the ban was to take effect to Wednesday.