The move by Judge Paul Cassell comes just a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision upholding a nationwide ban on the rarely used late-term procedures.

The ruling marks the first time the high court has struck down a specific type of abortion since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision upheld abortion rights in 1973. And that clears the way for Utah's ban to be put into effect.

Planned Parenthood and the Utah Women's Clinic fought the Utah law, passed in 2004 and signed by then-Gov. Olene Walker. But they are now backing down because of the Supreme Court ruling. The groups signed the motion to reopen the case.

"We are not challenging this particular law any further," said Karrie Galloway, director of Planned Parenthood of Utah. "It is futile."

Utah's law is almost identical to the federal ban, but it makes it easier for the state to prosecute any violations, said Assistant Attorney General Jerrold Jensen.

He hopes the two abortion rights groups will agree in writing to lift the injunction, forgoing any need for further hearings. Such an agreement could happen within the next few weeks, Jensen said.

Cassell ordered the parties to provide him a statement explaining their understanding of the case by May 30.

Abortion providers and lawmakers in Utah could not recall the last time partial birth abortion, where a fetus is removed intact and its skull is crushed, had been used in Utah.

mcanham@sltrib.com