Utah bans abortion clinics in wave of post-Roe restrictions

SALT LAKE CITY >> Abortion clinics in Utah could be banned from operating under a law signed by the state's Republican governor, setting off a rush of confusion among clinics, hospitals and prospective patients in the deeply conservative state.

Administrators from hospitals and clinics have not publicly detailed plans to adapt to the new rules, adding a layer of uncertainty on top of fear that, if clinics close, patients may not be able to access care at hospitals due to staffing and cost concerns.

The law signed by Gov. Spencer Cox on Wednesday takes effect May 3, at which time abortion clinics will not be able to apply to be licensed. It institutes a full ban Jan. 1, 2024. Both the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and the Utah Hospital Association declined to detail how the increasingly fraught legal landscape for providers in Utah will affect abortion access.

In addition to banning abortion clinics from operating, the law also clarifies the definition of abortion to address liability concerns about how exceptions are worded in state law — a provision Cox called a compromise.

On Thursday, the governor rebuffed critics who've equated restricting clinics to a de facto ban on abortion and said the law offered clarity to hospitals providing emergency abortions in the case of threats to maternal health and rape or incest reported to authorities.

“This bill clarifies that so that those abortions can continue. They will continue in a hospital setting, but there's nothing to prevent those from continuing,” he said at a news conference.

The turmoil mirrors developments in Republican strongholds throughout the United States that have taken shape since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, transformed the legal landscape and prompted a raft of lawsuits in at least 21 states.

Utah lawmakers have previously said the law would protect “the innocent” and “the unborn,” adding that they don't think the state needs the clinics after the high court overturned the constitutional right to abortion.

Though Planned Parenthood previously warned the law could dramatically hamper its ability to provide abortions, Jason Stevenson, the association's lobbyist, said Wednesday it would examine the wording of other provisions of the law that could allow clinics to apply for new licenses to perform hospital-equivalent services.

Based on Planned Parenthood's interpretation, he said in an interview, clinics will no longer be able to provide abortions with their current licenses. They plan to continue, however, to provide the majority of their services such as sexually transmitted disease and cancer screenings and pregnancy testing. Stevenson said they were “looking closely” at the law's licensing options, but would not say whether the clinics would apply at this point.

Utah's Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to questions about how it would enact the law, but lawmakers have said Planned Parenthood and other clinics could apply for different licenses under the law's framework.