Senators have greenlit a pair of bills to further restrict abortion in Utah, and killed the only bill to make it to a standing committee that would have eased some of the rules imposed by the state’s legally contested trigger law.
The most controversial of the bills, introduced by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, would ban abortion clinics from operating in Utah. It also, along with a bill from Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, would cut off an exception for rape and incest victims included in the blocked abortion law at 18 weeks.
Both bills passed out of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday evening 5-2, with the two Democrats on the committee voting against it. Another taking aim at reporting requirements for rape and incest victims from Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, failed along the same line — 2-5.
As snow continued to fall during “one of the most impactful” storms of the winter season, the committee room — which had less than 50 seats available for members of the public — was full. A rally against restrictive abortion bills scheduled for the same time as the committee was canceled due to the weather.
People on both sides of the abortion debate waited through the discussion of nine other bills, some wearing white coats to show their role as health care providers.
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