Utah state officials have urged a judge to lift a longstanding block on the state’s abortion ban, a move that pro-life advocates say would protect unborn babies by allowing the life-saving law to finally take effect.
The Utah Attorney General’s Office filed a motion for summary judgment this week, asking 3rd District Court Judge Charles Stormont to dissolve a preliminary injunction that has kept the ban on hold since 2022.
The law, passed by the Republican-led Legislature in 2020, prohibits most abortions from the earliest stages of pregnancy, with exceptions only for rape, incest or when the mother’s life is at risk. It was designed as a trigger law to activate if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which happened in June 2022.
But Planned Parenthood Association of Utah immediately sued, leading to the injunction.
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The Utah Supreme Court later refused the state’s request for a mid-case appeal, leaving abortions legal up to 18 weeks in the state. Arguments on the dueling summary judgment motions — the state’s to enforce the ban and Planned Parenthood’s to strike it down permanently — are scheduled for April.
In court filings, Assistant Utah Attorney General Lance Sorensen argued that policy debates over abortion should be left to elected lawmakers, not create new constitutional rights.
“But the existence of persuasive policy arguments does not create constitutional rights,” Sorensen wrote. “By way of analogy, many states are liberalizing their restrictions on a host of activities traditionally subject to regulation, such as recreational marijuana or assisted suicide, persuaded by policy arguments brought forth by proponents of legalization. The fact that there may be persuasive policy arguments in favor of legalized recreational marijuana or assisted suicide does not transform those activities into constitutional rights. It is the same with abortion.”
Sorensen added that Planned Parenthood is free to lobby for change through democratic means: “Plaintiff is welcome, as our representative democracy contemplates, to seek to persuade its fellow citizens of Utah that permissive abortion regulations are in the best interests of the State. Plaintiff and its members are free to promote and vote for political candidates who share Plaintiff’s views on abortion policy.”
Pro-life supporters see the push as a critical step to safeguard vulnerable lives, building on earlier victories.
In March 2023, Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill banning all abortion clinics in Utah, requiring any permitted abortions to occur only in hospitals. Sponsored by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, the measure prohibited state authorities from granting new licenses to abortion facilities after May 2, 2023, and aimed to end operations at existing ones by 2024.
Lisonbee called it legislation that “strikes the very best balance of protecting innocent life and protecting women who experience rare and dangerous circumstances.”
That law also mandated doctors provide information on perinatal hospice and palliative care for unborn babies with fatal fetal anomalies, barred abortions after 18 weeks even in cases of rape or incest, and allowed professional discipline for violations.T
he clinic ban contributed to further reductions in abortion abortions.
Last April, Planned Parenthood closed two of its Utah centers — one at each end of the state — while keeping two abortion-focused locations open in Salt Lake City.
