Judges rule on state abortion restrictions, shape Roe impact

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Monday granted a request from Planned Parenthood to delay implementing the state’s trigger law banning most abortions, as implications of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade reverberate nationwide.

With the decision, abortion remains legal up to 18 weeks in Utah, which is among a group of states where abortion rights have been thrown into limbo amid the legal and political challenges shaping the post-Roe landscape with states now holding the power to restrict abortion.

“What I’m really doing is saying we have serious things to talk about," Judge Andrew Stone said after granting an injunction delaying the trigger law.

He said the status quo should remain in effect until a challenge from the state's Planned Parenthood affiliate can be heard fully.

Meanwhile, a Minnesota judge declared most of that state's restrictions on abortion unconstitutional. In Michigan, a campaign turned in a record-breaking number of signatures so voters can be asked on the November ballot whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

Federally, the Biden administration's Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that hospitals “must” provide abortion services if the life of the mother is at risk, saying federal law on emergency treatment guidelines preempts state laws in jurisdictions that now ban the procedure without any exceptions. Currently, even states with the most stringent abortion bans allow exceptions when the health of a mother is at risk, though the threat of prosecution has created confusion for some doctors.

Last month's Dobbs v. Jackson ruling overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that found the right to abortion was protected by the U.S. Constitution. The issue reverted to the states, setting off new court battles and ballot...