Utah’s near-total abortion ban to remain blocked until lower court assesses its constitutionality

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A near-total abortion ban will remain on hold in Utah after the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the law should remain blocked until a lower court can assess its constitutionality.

With the decision, abortion remains legal up to 18 weeks under another state law that has served as a fallback as abortion rights have been thrown into limbo.

The panel wrote in its opinion that the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah had legal standing to challenge the state’s abortion trigger law, and that a lower court acted within its purview when it initially blocked the ban.

Their ruling only affects whether the restrictions remain on pause amid further legal proceedings and does not decide the final outcome of abortion policy in the state. The case will now be sent back to a lower court to determine whether the law is constitutional.

The trigger law that remains on hold would prohibit abortions except in cases when the mother’s life is at risk or there is a fatal fetal abnormality. A separate state law passed last year also allows abortions up to 18 weeks of pregnancy in cases of rape or incest.

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