Lawsuit Challenges Utah Legislation to Ban Abortion Clinics

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Deliberate Parenthood and ACLU of Utah filed a lawsuit Monday difficult a brand new Utah legislation that may ban abortion clinics within the deeply conservative state.

Along with banning abortion clinics from working, the legislation additionally clarifies the definition of abortion to handle legal responsibility issues about how exceptions are worded in state legislation — a provision Cox referred to as a compromise.

Deliberate Parenthood — which runs three of the 4 abortion clinics — mentioned Monday afternoon that their interpretation that the legislation had conflicting provisions would compel them to cease offering abortions at their clinics as of Might 3 until the clinic licensing legislation was placed on maintain by the courts.

Utah lawmakers have beforehand mentioned the legislation would defend “the harmless” and “the unborn,” including that they don’t assume the state wants the clinics after the excessive court docket overturned the constitutional proper to abortion.

Because the legislation’s passage, Republican legislators and Utah’s Division of Well being and Human Companies have each mentioned that abortion clinics might apply for brand new licenses as hospitals.

Nonetheless, doing so would doubtless require main modifications for the state’s 4 standalone clinics, which primarily present treatment abortion and have relied on clinicians and nurse practitioners relatively than physicians and surgeons.

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