Last Friday, on June 24, 2022, the Dobbs v. Jackson opinion out of the Supreme Court didn’t come as a surprise to most people: 1) because the opinions had already been leaked in May, and 2) many people have been waiting for this ever since Trump’s election in 2017. Still, the consequences of the opinion came swiftly. 13 states had “trigger bans” set in place – laws that were designed to ban abortion if Roe were overturned. Utah’s trigger ban was effective by Friday night, making abortion illegal unless necessary to prevent death or if the pregnancy was a result of incest or rape. Under the law, anyone found guilty of performing an abortion could face up to 15 years in prison.
In Utah, Planned Parenthood of Utah and the ACLU immediately filed a lawsuit the next day (Saturday) to block Utah’s trigger ban, contending the law violates the state constitution’s equal protection and privacy provisions. In his ruling, Judge Stone wrote that the temporary restraining order was in the public interest and that the state’s trigger ban “upsets the longstanding status quo on which Utah women and their families have relied for at least five decades.”
Without a temporary restraining order, the Act will cause irreparable harm to PPAU, its patients, and its staff,” Stone wrote. “If left in place, the Act will force many Utahns to continue carrying a pregnancy that they have decided to end, with all of the physical, emotional, and financial costs that entails.
Thankfully, the Judge recognized the catastrophic cost of an immediate ban to abortion and enforced the temporary restraining order.
The 12 other states with trigger bans include Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. In Louisiana, another Judge barred the state from enforcing its ban. Here’s a great article to review the details of the different state’s laws and the penalties associated.
Four of the women in our office recorded a podcast to air our initial thoughts. Take a listen if you’re interested here: