Last week, I realized I was pregnant and knew immediately that I wanted an abortion. I don`t want any more children. It is already difficult for me to support my two existing children with my income. I already worry about paying rent every month. I`m also afraid of being too old to get pregnant again. My first pregnancy involved preeclampsia anxiety and induction when I started licking amniotic fluid. With this pregnancy, I already have cramps and intense emotions of anger and sadness. When the ban goes into effect, I will have to find another way to perform my abortion, and quickly. I suspect I would have to drive several hours to a state where abortion is legal. I would have to find child care. Any time off work while traveling would come from my already weak PTO and I need it to attend my children`s doctor visits and therapy appointments. Utah lawmakers passed SB174 in 2020 to allow Utah to protect the lives of unborn children if or when the U.S.

Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. That decision was made last month, and Utah`s abortion ban went into effect briefly before being temporarily suspended as the Planned Parenthood trial unfolds with Utah. The law defines the word “abortion” as “the intentional termination or attempted termination of a human pregnancy after implantation of an egg fertilized by a medical procedure used by a physician or by a substance used under the direction of a physician.” In 2017, there were 1,587 facilities offering abortions in the United States, down 5 percent from 1,671 facilities in 2014. Sixteen percent of facilities in 2017 were abortion clinics (i.e., clinics where more than half of all patient visits were for an abortion), 35% were non-specialized clinics, 33% were hospitals, and 16% were private doctors` offices. Sixty percent of all abortions were performed in abortion clinics, 35 percent in non-specialized clinics, 3 percent in hospitals, and 1 percent in doctors` offices. [1] While McCay`s trigger bill is being challenged in court, state lawmakers are already drafting a patchwork of abortion laws for next year`s legislature. Meanwhile, Utahns are wondering on all sides of the abortion debate: Will there ever be a definitive abortion law in the Hive State? Are you thinking about abortion? Learn more about your options. (Rachel Rydalch | Izzy Milligan holds up a sign that reads “My body, my choice” during a pro-abortion rights rally on Sunday, June 26, 2022.

Reproductive rights can be subject to a number of changes in the Hive State, as its triggering bill is challenged in court and the legislature opens abortion-related legislation for the next legislature. “The Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU) challenges Utah`s renewed abortion policy as a violation of an allegedly implicit constitutional right to abortion,” the petition reads. “And the district court provisionally barred the state from enforcing its rights. Dave Ferguson, executive director of the Utah Criminal Defense Association, shared the same concerns as doctors — that prosecutors might have a different interpretation of what is considered a legal exception because of ambiguities in the language of the law. “Women will delay treatment,” he said. “. They will have abortions by less accessible means. Some women are likely to resort to dangerous and illegal methods, not only for the woman, but obviously also for the woman. The potential life that carries them. Created by FindLaw`s team of writers and legal writers| Last updated: 15.

July 2022 Since 2010, however, the U.S. abortion landscape has become increasingly restrictive as more states pass anti-abortion laws. Between January 1, 2011 and July 1, 2019, states passed 483 new abortion restrictions, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all abortion restrictions passed by states in the decades following Roe v. Wade. Some of the most common restrictions on abortion at the state level include notification or consent requirements for minors, restrictions on public funding, mandatory counseling designed to discourage individuals from having abortions, prescribed waiting periods before an abortion, and unnecessary and burdensome regulations for abortion facilities. However, while SB174 states that a doctor may only perform a legal abortion, it also states that a “person performing an abortion” who violates the law is guilty of a second-degree felony. Could the term “person” also include a nurse`s aide? A pharmacist? These are the questions that doctors and pharmacists deal with without clear answers. Gawron also wants to take care of her patients, but she, too, is afraid of being charged with a crime – even if she thinks it`s the right decision or the legal decision based on her own interpretation of the law. Things also get murky when it comes to scenarios, including mail-order abortion pills or telemedicine visits — as well as scenarios where a woman might travel out of state, get an abortion pill from an unauthorized doctor in the state of Utah, and then take her home to take the pill.

Gill also said he was “really concerned about the re-victimization” of rape victims and the “collateral consequences” of having to prosecute. He feared that the duty to report would actually arm the defence of a rapist, who could then argue that the woman had reported the rape only to request an abortion. The abortion ban in Utah makes me feel oppressed, as if people who don`t know me are holding me back. I`m angry that these people want to make this decision for me. I did everything I could not to be in that position. I was using condoms and had made an appointment to have my tubes tied. Despite all this, it happened to me, and I just want to have an abortion as soon as possible. In 2017, 89 percent of U.S. counties did not have clinics offering abortions. About 38% of women of childbearing age lived in these countries and would have had to travel elsewhere for abortions. [1] Of the patients who had an abortion in 2014, one-third had to travel more than 25 miles to reach a facility.

[2] In 2019, the Utah legislature passed a law restricting abortions after 18 weeks of pregnancy. [18] In 2020, the Legislative Assembly passed Senate Bill 174 “Abortion Ban Amendments,” sponsored by Daniel McCay. [19] The bill is a near-total ban on abortion, with exceptions for rape, incest, and maternal health, but would only go into effect if Roe v. Wade was cancelled. [18] An additional amendment to the state constitution would still not mark the end of abortion policy in Utah, according to Teneille Brown, a professor at the University of Utah who studies the intersection of law, life sciences and medical ethics. The use of abortion procedures is so nuanced that it would be difficult to fully define when people have the right to access them, she explained. Pharmacies and pharmacists want to make sure that`s the case — that if it`s a prescription legally issued by a doctor, “we should be able to just dispense this drug,” he said, but it`s not clear in the language of the law. While “we appreciate the intent of the exceptions” outlined in Utah`s trigger law, Heuser said their language is “quite vague and it`s not clear who makes the decision” whether an abortion would be legal or not.

Judge Andrew Stone of the Third Judicial District Court in Salt Lake City ruled at a hearing that the ban, which banned abortion at any time during pregnancy with a few exceptions, must remain in abeyance while Planned Parenthood pursues a legal challenge. “When something is so controversial and really appeals to people`s religious values, it`s really hard to answer it definitively in law,” said Brown, a law professor. But if people really reject something in principle, thinking it`s immoral, they`ll find ways to reduce access, even if it`s legal. So the law is very important. But maybe it`s less important than you think. The two maternal fetal medicine doctors, based in Salt Lake City, say they are caught between their professional duty to protect the lives of pregnant women and their babies — and the fear that even if they prescribe or perform what should appear to be a legal abortion among the exceptions listed in the law, you could still be charged with a second-degree felony.