Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed a invoice on Wednesday that bans all abortion clinics within the state.
Cox signed H.B. 467 after the state Senate handed the invoice on March 2 and the state Home signed the invoice on March 3. The invoice stops the licensing of abortion clinics by Might of this 12 months and bans the operation of all abortion clinics beginning in January 2024. Beneath the invoice, solely hospitals are allowed to carry out abortions.
Cox beforehand informed reporters he would signal the invoice, which formally defines the time period “abortion” to take away any confusion surrounding the regulation, in response to ABC Information.
“One of the concerns with the trigger bill that medical providers had across the state was there [was] a lack of clarity that would have made it hard for them to perform legal abortions,” Cox mentioned on the time.
Apart from banning abortion clinics, the invoice makes it a prison offense for anybody apart from medical doctors licensed in Utah to prescribe abortion drugs. The invoice additionally requires physicians to tell a girl that perinatal hospice and perinatal palliative care companies can be found if her unborn child has been identified with a “fetal abnormality that is incompatible with life.” The invoice moreover outlaws abortions after 18 weeks of being pregnant in instances of rape and incest, and permits medical doctors who abort unborn infants in violation of state legal guidelines to face self-discipline for unprofessional conduct.
In response to the Related Press, Deliberate Parenthood lobbyist Jason Stevenson mentioned clinics will not have the ability to carry out abortions with their present licenses beneath the brand new regulation.
“They plan to continue, however, to provide the majority of their services such as STI testing, pregnancy testing, cancer screenings and vasectomies. Stevenson said they were ‘looking closely’ at other ‘hospital equivalent’ licensing options laid out in the legislation, but would not say whether the clinics would apply at this point,” in response to the report.
“The Utah Hospital Association said no hospitals provided elective abortions in the state last year. It declined to answer questions about whether plans were in place to accommodate additional patients likely to seek care if clinics close,” the report continues.
President and CEO of Deliberate Parenthood Federation of America Alexis McGill Johnson slammed the invoice when it first handed the state Home:
HB 467 is nothing however shameful procedural and political maneuvering meant to get round a legitimate courtroom choice and forestall Utahns from accessing abortion. At this time’s passage is only one a part of a nationwide marketing campaign by anti-abortion extremists to finish authorized abortion all through the USA, and it’ll have devastating impacts on Utah communities.
BREAKING: @govcox has signed HB467 into regulation.HB467 prohibits licensing of abortion clinics after Might 2 of this 12 months….
Posted by Professional-Life Utah on Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Professional-Life Utah celebrated the invoice’s passage and thanked Gov. Cox for his “commitment to protect the pre-born.”
Utah has a set off regulation banning abortions besides in instances of rape, incest, deadly fetal anomalies, and when the lifetime of the mom is in danger, however that regulation is at the moment blocked throughout ongoing litigation. For now, abortions are authorized within the state as much as 18 weeks.
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