SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Monday granted a request by Planned Parenthood to delay implementation of the state’s law banning most abortions because of the fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade reverberate across the country.
The decision leaves abortion legal up to 18 weeks in Utah, which is among a group of states where abortion rights have been thrown into limbo amid legal and political challenges shaping the post-Roe landscape, with states now having the power to restrict abortions.
“What I’m really doing is saying we have serious things to talk about,” Judge Andrew Stone said after issuing an order delaying the triggering law.
He said the status quo should remain in place until the challenge from Planned Parenthood’s state affiliate is fully heard.
Meanwhile, a Minnesota judge has declared most of that state’s abortion restrictions unconstitutional. In Michigan, a campaign resulted in a record number of signatures so voters could be asked on the November ballot whether to write abortion rights into the state constitution. And federally, the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that hospitals “must” provide abortion services if the mother’s life is at risk, saying the federal Emergency Treatment Guidelines Act preempts state laws in jurisdictions that now prohibit the procedure without any exceptions. Currently, even states with the strictest abortion bans allow exceptions when the mother’s health is at risk, although the threat of prosecution has created confusion for some doctors.
Last month’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which held that abortion rights are protected by the US Constitution. The issue has returned to the states, sparking new legal battles and ballot initiatives as many states move to restrict or ban abortions.
Utah is among more than a dozen states with trigger laws designed to restrict abortions since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Monday’s decision comes two weeks after the court temporarily banned the law, which bans most abortions except for rape, incest or maternal health. Stone, who was appointed by a Republican governor, blocked its implementation for 14 days after the state branch of Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit. His ruling effectively extends the stay of the law and allows Planned Parenthood clinics to continue performing abortions until the case is resolved.
Utah attorneys argued that text in the state constitution allows for bans on abortions and said that delaying implementation of the triggering law would mean overriding the will of the Utah Legislature and voters. Julie Murray, an attorney for Planned Parenthood, said that delaying the implementation of the law could lead to criminal charges against staff and harm approximately 200 patients with scheduled appointments over the next month.
Stone issued a preliminary injunction that would allow Planned Parenthood clinics to continue providing abortion care — up to 18 weeks into pregnancy under another recently enacted limit — until the court rules on the constitutional issues.
A Minnesota judge declared most of the state’s abortion restrictions unconstitutional, including a 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that both parents be notified before a minor can have an abortion. Ramsey County Circuit Judge Thomas Gilligan also rejected requirements that only doctors be able to perform abortions and that abortions after the first trimester must be performed in hospitals. His order took effect immediately, meaning the restrictions cannot be enforced.
Gender Justice and other abortion rights groups have argued that the restrictions are unconstitutional under a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that the state constitution protects abortion rights. The judge called the case “significant and historic” and said it was unaffected by the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
“These abortion laws violate the right to privacy because they violate the fundamental right under the Minnesota Constitution to access abortion care and do not withstand strict scrutiny,” Gilligan wrote.
The decision is expected to benefit patients from restrictive states who might go to Minnesota for reproductive health care. Providers are bracing for a surge of patients from neighboring states in the upper Midwest and even further afield.
Opponents of abortion rights condemned the decision. Citizens for Life of Minnesota said the laws challenged in the case are “common sense measures that support and empower pregnant women” and removing them prevents residents from “adopting reasonable protections for unborn children and their mothers.” A Republican attorney general candidate has called on the Democratic attorney general to appeal.
Legal efforts to prevent the permanent closure of the state’s three abortion clinics resumed Monday in Louisiana state court. A New Orleans judge last week refused to extend a temporary restraining order blocking the state’s abortion ban, saying the case belongs in Baton Rouge.
Attorneys for a north Louisiana clinic and an abortion rights group are now seeking a new restraining order from a Baton Rouge judge. Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office says a temporary restraining order cannot be renewed once it has expired.
Along with lawsuits challenging the bans, abortion rights supporters are trying to add ballot questions to write abortion rights into state constitutions.
More than 750,000 signatures were turned in by the campaign in Michigan on Monday — nearly double the number needed. The Democratic governor and attorney general in the battleground state have made abortion rights central to their re-election campaigns.
“The number of signatures showed that here in Michigan we trust women. We trust people. We trust doctors, not politicians, to make decisions about our bodies, our pregnancies and our parenting,” Reproductive Freedom for All spokeswoman Shanai Watson-Whittaker said during a news conference in Lansing.
Signatures still need to be verified and validated. A judge has temporarily blocked a 1931 Michigan law that made abortion a crime except when “necessary to preserve the life of such woman.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the law was invalid under the due process and equal protection clauses of the state constitution. An injunction resulting from a Planned Parenthood lawsuit can be overturned at any time.
Last week, supporters of a last-minute effort to enshrine abortion rights in Arizona’s constitution failed to gather enough signatures to make it onto the November ballot. In California, voters will decide in November whether to guarantee the right to abortion in their constitution. Democrats who control California’s government fear the state’s abortion laws could be vulnerable to legal challenges.
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McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island, and Karnowski reported from St. Paul, Minnesota. Associated Press writer Kevin McGill in New Orleans and Associated Press/Report for America writer Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan contributed to this report.
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