History
Legislative history
In 1876, the Territory of Utah banned the deliberate induction of a miscarriage, except in cases where it was necessary to save a patient's life. [11] Shortly after attaining statehood, the Utah legislature passed a law in 1898 designating a woman who had an abortion or actively sought to have an abortion, regardless of whether she went through with it, as guilty of a criminal offense. [12] [13]
The Supreme Court preempted all state laws restricting and regulating abortion in January 1973 with its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton . [13] In March 1973, the state legislature passed the Utah Abortion Act, reinstating the ban on abortion except in cases where the patient's life or health was endangered. The law also required the father's consent before an abortion could be carried out. This law was struck down by the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah in August, citing Roe as evidence that it was unconstitutional. [11] [14]
In February 1974, a weakened version of the state's abortion law was enacted, following the precedent set by Roe. A case against this version of the law, H. L. v. Matheson , was brought to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981, challenging the provision that the parents of a minor must be notified before an abortion can be administered. The Supreme Court ruled that Utah's requirement, as well as the requirement that the husband of a married woman must be notified, was valid because it did not require their consent or allow the parents or spouse to stop the procedure from taking place. [11] [14] Beginning in the early 1980s, Planned Parenthood became Utah's only Title X grantee and the only abortion service provider in the state. [15]
The Criminal Abortion Act, signed into law by Governor Norman Bangerter in January 1991, was regarded as the strictest abortion law in the nation at the time of passage. It banned abortion except in cases where the patient's life or health was at risk, or where fetal defects were found. Abortions in cases of rape or incest were permitted only until the fifth month of pregnancy. Much of the law was found to be unconstitutional in December 1992. The case of Jane L. v. Bangerter was denied certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1997, leaving the provisions struck down. [11] [14] [12]
The state was one of 23 states in 2007 to have a detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirement. [16] The informed consent materials in South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia given to women seeking abortions include counseling materials that say women who have abortions may have suicidal thoughts or experience "post-abortion traumatic stress syndrome," which is not recognized by American Psychological Association or the American Psychiatric Association. [17] In 2013, state Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law applied to medication-induced abortions and private doctor offices in addition to abortion clinics. [18] There was a pending bill in Utah in early 2018 to prohibit women from requesting their doctors perform abortions as a result of getting a Down syndrome diagnosis during their pregnancies. The bill was co-sponsored by Republican state Sen. Curt Bramble. [19] In 2019, only 24% of the state legislators were female. [20]
In 2019, the Utah legislature passed a bill limiting abortions after 18 weeks of pregnancy. [21] In 2020, the legislature passed Senate Bill 174 "Abortion Prohibition Amendments" sponsored by Daniel McCay. [22] The bill is a near-total ban on abortion, with exceptions for rape, incest, and the mother's health, but would only go into effect if Roe v. Wade was overturned. [21] The Supreme Court overturned Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022. [23] [24] However, there is a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the near-total ban on abortion. [1] But according to another law, HB136, which is effective state law from June 28, 2022, abortions are banned following 18 weeks of gestation. [2]
Clinic history
Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state declined by one, going from seven in 1982 to six in 1992. [25] In 1996, the state had seven abortion clinics and was one of only three to gain clinics in the period between 1982 and 1996. [26] In 2014, there were two abortion clinics in the state. [27] In 2014, 97% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 62% of women in the state aged 15–44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic. [28] In 2017, there were nine Planned Parenthood clinics, of which one offered abortion services, in a state with a population of 727,940 women aged 15–49. [29] In March 2019, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah was the only abortion provider in the state. [15]
