The Utah Supreme Court has declined for now to lift a judge’s injunction on the state’s near-total abortion ban.
In an order quietly filed with the state’s top court last week and obtained by FOX 13 News, the justices granted an appeal by the Utah Attorney General’s Office over a lower court’s order that blocks the state’s abortion trigger law from being enforced. However, the Court denied the state’s motion to halt the judge’s preliminary injunction while the appeal is pending.
The order said that Chief Justice Matthew Durrant dissented from the rest of the justices in the decision to deny the motion for a stay of the preliminary injunction.
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah sued the state over its ban on elective abortions that went into effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Utah’s law prohibits all abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or health of the mother. In July, 3rd District Court Judge Andrew Stone granted their request for the injunction, blocking the law from being enforced while the case was litigated.
“We are relieved the Court rejected the State’s effort to force the trigger law into effect, and we will continue to fight this cruel ban at all levels of the Utah courts. Utahns can rest assured that abortion remains safe and legal in our state,” Karrie Galloway, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said in a statement to FOX 13 News.
The Utah Attorney General’s Office had no comment on the Court’s decision.
Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune and FOX 13 are content-sharing partners.