Utah Supreme Court upholds injunction against 6-week abortion ban
The case will return to lower court for further deliberation
The Utah Supreme Court upheld an injunction against the state’s 6-week abortion ban on Thursday.
A lower court had ruled in favor of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, the appellee in the case. Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, State Attorney General Sean D. Reyes, and Mark B. Steinagal, director of the Utah Division of Professional Licensing, were the appellants who had hoped for a different ruling. Though the decision was a victory, it wasn’t a total one. The case will return to the district court for further litigation.
“The district court did not err when it concluded that PPAU had raised serious issues about the constitutionality of SB 174. The court did not abuse its discretion when it concluded that PPAU and its patients would be irreparably harmed without the injunction,” wrote Associate Justice John Pearce. “Likewise, the court did not abuse its discretion when it concluded that the balance of harms tipped in favor of enjoining SB 174 while the parties litigate its constitutionality.”
Utah passed a trigger law in 2020, which came into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Because Planned Parenthood had successfully sued and won at the district level, the state still abides by the 18-week ban on abortion. Women can get reproductive care up to that point.
The lawsuit will likely return to the state supreme court once the lower court issues its final ruling. The decision is below.
