Republican Utah senators were undaunted by the near-certainty of lawsuits and an uphill battle through the courts as they voted 23-6 along party lines Wednesday evening to ban elective abortions after 18 weeks of fetal development.
A bipartisan majority of their House counterparts had voted last month to approve the bill, HB136, and Spanish Fork Republican Sen. Deidre Henderson — the bill’s Senate sponsor — argued that it preserved a woman’s right to have an abortion for any reason before 18 weeks, while expanding the exceptions for a legal procedure beyond that deadline.
But within minutes of the Senate’s vote, a left-leaning advocacy organization and the legal arm of a major abortion provider were warning of lawsuits against the state on constitutional grounds.