Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, said Wednesday's 5-4 decision gives him hope Utah could eventually forbid abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, grave fetal defect or serious risk to the mother's life.

He cites the court's declaration that the government has a "substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life" and it may use its authority to "show its profound respect for the life within the woman."

"That language spurs me on to ban abortion," Ray said. "We have an unborn child here. It's a life. We have a duty and obligation to protect it."

The court's conservative majority allowed the first nationwide ban on an abortion procedure since the Roe v. Wade decision upholding abortion rights in 1973. The court's liberal justices, in dissent, called the decision alarming and said it chipped away at abortion rights.

And in Utah, Republican lawmakers are waiting, axes in hand.

If Utah doesn't lead the way in challenging Roe v. Wade, Ray also is planning to resurrect his push to pass a "trigger" law that would ban abortions in Utah once another state had outlawed it and successfully defended it at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Such a bill was defeated at the 2007 Legislature.

Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, said he, too, would be willing to sponsor a trigger bill that hinges on a repeal of Roe v. Wade, "which we all believe will happen some day."

Such a law should consider the life of the mother, but not her health, Buttars said. "If you just consider the health of the mother, is it 'Will she be tired more often?' or is it something much more serious in the ladder of health deterioration?"

While so-called partial birth abortions have apparently not been in use in Utah, the state's pro-choice advocates and gynecologists are bracing for a fight against other restrictions.

"I'm sure there will be politicians that will feel emboldened to try to enact measures . . . that will further restrict women's rights," said Karen McCreary, executive director of the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

She contends that Ray's proposed ban would be unconstitutional, even with Wednesday's ruling.

"It's a dark day for women's health and safety," she added. "This [federal] law does not provide an exception to safeguard a woman's health. That's been the established law for 30 years."

While abortion providers and lawmakers could not recall a Utah woman receiving a partial-birth abortion - in which the fetus is removed intact and its skull is crushed - local doctors say the procedure should be available to protect the health of the woman. The federal law does provide an exception to protect the mother's life.

The reason the procedure is not used in Utah is because most abortions take place in the first trimester, when other procedures are used. When second-trimester abortions are performed, doctors prefer other methods.

Still, the ban "is a stunning assault on the woman's health and the expertise of the doctors who do provide this care," asserts Madhuri Shah, medical director of the Utah Women's Clinic, one of three clinics in Utah that performs abortions and the only one that does it in the second trimester.

"It has given the authority [to lawmakers] to go ahead and make all abortions a criminal procedure," Shah said.

William Adams, director of the Salt Lake City-area Mountain View Women's Center, which performs first-trimester abortions, agreed, saying the ruling is a "first step on a slippery slope to outlawing all abortions."

Adams started practicing medicine before abortions were legal and said he doesn't want to return to the days of women suffering botched procedures.

Reacting to the ruling, he said: "I think they don't [care] about women's rights. These same people opposed to abortion, they're also opposed to sex education in school. They're opposed to contraception."

Karrie Galloway, director of Planned Parenthood of Utah, called the ruling "devastating."

"They took legislators over doctors as the people who would make the decisions on what was right for women's health," she said.

But Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, touted the ruling.

"The Supreme Court concluded it is appropriate to ban a practice that shocks the conscience," he said in a statement. "The court acknowledged that this procedure is never medically necessary and there are safe alternatives."

And Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, heralded the ruling as protecting the "sanctity of human life."

"As it should have, the court stuck to the legal issues rather than second-guessing policy in deciding this case," Hatch said in a statement. "A majority of justices said the American people and their elected representatives, not judges, should decide this issue."

hmay@sltrib.com

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* THE ASSOCIATED PRESS and Tribune reporter GLEN WARCHOL contributed to this story.

Utah law prohibits abortion after 20 weeks except when the woman's life is at stake, her health might be gravely damaged, or the child would be born with grave defects. The chart shows abortions by timing in weeks gestation in 2005

* The U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-4 that governments can ban an abortion procedure known as intact dilation and evacuation and dubbed ''partial-birth abortion'' by its critics.

* The ruling marks the first time the court upholds a law that does not have an exception for a mother's health.

* Dissenting justices call the decision alarming and say it weakens the right to abortion first established in 1973.

Source: The Associated Press