Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah judge is now considering a request from Planned Parenthood to place an injunction on a law that would ban abortions from taking place in clinics, saying a written decision will be issued early next week.
Planned Parenthood of Utah challenged HB467, a law passed by the Utah Legislature this year that is scheduled to go into effect on May 3, which also prohibits clinics from seeking the license they need from the state to perform abortions.
At a 3rd District Court hearing on Friday, before Judge Andrew Stone, Planned Parenthood's lawyer Hannah Swanson argued the ban on abortions in clinics would effectively end abortions in the state. She argued Planned Parenthood's abortion clinics are similarly situated to provide abortions as hospitals so the law discriminates against the clinics, treating them differently than medical facilities with hospital licenses.
According to Swanson, abortions at clinics are just as safe as hospitals but are available at a significantly lower cost.
She said although hospitals are allowed to provide abortions, they typically only provide them in specific circumstances — the same ones outlined in a 2020 Utah law, known as the trigger law, that is currently stopped from going into effect by the courts.
This preliminary injunction request is part of the same case Planned Parenthood filed in 2022 against the trigger law banning abortion except under certain circumstances — such as rape, incest or serious risk of death to the mother. Stone previously entered an injunction stopping that law from going into effect, and that injunction is being briefed for consideration by the Utah Supreme Court.
Swanson agreed that this law stopping abortions in clinics would have the same effect. She said that in blocking the trigger ban, Stone recognized the widespread harm that would be caused by not allowing general abortions. She said this law would essentially cause the same harm, as well, since over 95% of abortions in Utah are performed in clinics.
"Requiring abortion to be performed in hospitals does nothing to improve patient safety," she said. "Abortion is already one of the safest medical treatments available."
Lance Sorenson, an attorney representing Utah, argued that HB467 does apply the law uniformly. He argued it does not create a classification for abortion clinics but gets rid of one, so that they are treated similarly to other health care facilities if they seek to be licensed as such. He said hospitals operate with higher care standards.
Sorenson said under the 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade, any abortion regulations are constitutional, and requiring abortions to happen only in hospitals would also be constitutional.
He said the Legislature has the discretion to make laws, whether or not their intent is health and safety, and Utah and the public have an interest in those laws taking effect "especially when there is a question of constitutionality."
Sorenson said there is nothing in HB467 that would prevent Planned Parenthood from licensing its clinics as hospitals.
The law is set to take effect on May 3, at which time abortion clinics will no longer be able to apply to be licensed. State officials have said clinic licenses will remain until the beginning of 2024, but Swanson said under their reading of the law they will need to stop offering abortions immediately if the law goes into effect. Swanson said under the law it is a second-degree felony to perform abortions outside a hospital, and licenses can be revoked before someone is proven guilty of that crime.
"HB467 is an abortion ban, and so it violates the Utah Constitution," she told the judge.
Stone thanked both groups of attorneys for their work on briefs and arguments regarding the injunction, saying the work was "top-notch," but he said it would not be fair to make a decision in the hearing without further consideration.
"Abortion is health care, and we at Planned Parenthood will do every single solitary thing in our power to make sure that people in Utah are safe, and to keep politicians out of personal health care decisions. We will continue fighting, in any court at any time, to ensure that women's health and family health is protected," said Sarah Stoesz, interim CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, in a press conference following the hearing.
Stoesz said no Utah hospitals have stepped forward to say they will help provide abortions if the law goes into effect, and pregnant women may be left without "safe options" and be required to continue their pregnancies. She said if Utah bans abortion access, pregnancy in the state will become more dangerous.
"This is a very cruel law because it prevents women from coming to clinics to seek abortion care, and it prevents Planned Parenthood and clinics from providing safe, accessible, affordable abortion services," she said.
Stoesz said politicians are "vastly out of step with the voters" on abortion, both around the country and in Utah.
Sorenson said at the press conference that Planned Parenthood is hopeful that Stone will block the ban on abortions in clinics from going into effect before May 3. She said there is no reason their clinics should need to "turn themselves into hospitals" to continue providing the care they have provided safely for many years.
She said an assertion that the law is not an abortion ban "ignores reality."
