Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation Wednesday that will effectively ban clinics from providing abortions, setting off a rush of confusion among clinics, hospitals and prospective patients in the deeply Republican state.
Administrators from hospitals and clinics have not publicly detailed their plans to adapt to the new law, adding a layer of uncertainty on top of fear that, if clinics close, patients may not be able to access care at hospitals because of a variety of staffing and cost concerns.
While lobbying against the legislation, Planned Parenthood, which runs three out of the four clinics in Utah, said it would dramatically hamper the organization’s ability to provide abortions as soon as it went into effect. Jason Stevenson, the association’s lobbyist, said Wednesday the organization would now further examine the wording, implications and whether other provisions of the bill allowed clinics to apply for a new kind of license to perform hospital-equivalent services.
Dr. Carole Joffe, a University of California, San Francisco professor who has written about the societal effects of reproductive health care, said stripping clinics of licenses would upend how abortions have been provided for more than 50 years. Historically, patients with low-complication pregnancies have received abortions at outpatient clinics, which on average are able to provide them at a lower cost.
Abortion advocates say confusion stems from unclear language about the de-licensing process included in the legislation. It prohibits clinics from obtaining new licenses as of May 2 and institutes a full ban on Jan. 1, 2024. However, advocates are worried about a separate provision in the 1,446-line bill that specifies under state law that abortions may only be performed in hospitals, rendering the licensing dates irrelevant.
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