The move appeared to be a sign that leaders did not support passage of the bill this year. They allowed measure after measure to be debated, delaying final action on the abortion bill until the clock struck midnight, ending the 45-day session.

The bill by sponsoring Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, had languished more than two weeks in the Senate. The so-called "trigger" bill - enacting a ban only in event the U.S. Supreme Court overturnned Roe v. Wade - didn't appear before senators until 90 minutes before this year's lawmaking ended.

Senators passed it, 20-7, after several senators complained that it was a bad move legally and that an abortion ban would better be taken up in a special session so Utah's law could be tailored to the high court's decision.

Sen. Lyle Hillyard, a Logan Republican and lawyer, said it would be wiser to wait. "It may lead to laws we don't want," he said.

The House was expected to approve the Senate-made changes and send the bill to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. But, mid-vote, Speaker Greg Curtis halted voting as time ran out.

Ray said earlier Wednesday he was happy with the trigger bill. It was, after all, what he started with, before a House committee voted to put Utah at the front of the fight to overturn the legal right to abortion. But House members decided against that, saying the time might not be right at the court and Utah already had spent money - more than $1 million in the early 1990s - to tighten abortion controls and had failed.

Gayle Ruzicka, president of the Utah Eagle Forum, waited anxiously for a vote. She saw it as an important way to show Utah is a strong "pro-life" state. But the avid abortion-ban supporter shrugged off its defeat. "Well, that happens," she said. "So. we'll bring it back next year and pass it. The votes were there. The support was there."

Some had said the estimated $4 million price tag for fighting a ban to the Supreme Court was too much, and too uncertain.

Missy Larsen, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Council, said the issue had galvanized her constituency to promote the prevention of unwanted pregnancies through birth control.

"The Legislature understood that a tigger bill was not necessary," she said.