Utah 18-Week Abortion Ban (HB 136)

HB 136 would prohibit an abortion from being performed after a fetus reaches 18 weeks gestational age except under certain circumstances.

An abortion may be performed only if:

• it’s necessary to save the life of the pregnant patient or prevent a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the patient on whom the abortion is performed;
• two physicians concur in the patient’s medical record that the fetus has
  • a defect that is uniformly diagnosable and uniformly lethal; or
  • a severe brain abnormality that is uniformly diagnosable; or
• the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, and the physician verifies it has been reported to law enforcement.

The bill defines “severe brain abnormality” to mean a malformation or defect that causes an individual to live in a mentally vegetative state.

A violation of this provision would be a felony of the second degree, punishable by one to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Reporting Requirements

The bill would amend abortion reporting requirements to require physicians to include the date the abortion was performed. The physician would also need to certify whether the fetus was older than 18 weeks gestational age at the time of the abortion.

Latest Action

1/16/19 – Prefiled.

1/29/19 – Introduced.

2/20/19 – The bill—which was introduced as a 15-week ban—was amended to prohibit abortion at 18 weeks.

2/26/19 – Passed the House by a 57-15 vote.

3/7/19 – Approved by senate committee.

3/13/19 – Passed the Senate by a 23-6 vote.

3/25/19 – Signed into law by Republican Gov. Gary Herbert.

Update #1

4/18/19 – U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups issued a preliminary injunction based on the parties’ agreement not to enforce the law until the case is resolved at trial.

People

Legal Cases

• Planned Parenthood Association of Utah v. Miner