FILE - A sign is shown in front of Planned Parenthood of Utah Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Salt Lake City. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 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. With the law set to start taking effect May 3, both the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and the Utah Hospital Association declined to detail how the increasingly fraught legal landscape for abortion providers in Utah will affect their operations.  (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Utah judge delays implementing statewide abortion clinic ban

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Tuesday, a Utah judge ruled a recently passed state law banning abortion clinics cannot take effect next week as scheduled while the court deliberates over a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood.

Judge Andrew Stone’s decision to grant Planned Parenthood’s request will allow the four clinics that provide abortions in Utah to remain licensed to operate fully. The law would have stopped abortion clinics from getting licenses on May 3 and fazed out existing ones by next year.

Planned Parenthood argued the law would have effectively ended access to abortion throughout Utah, where clinics provide 95% of abortions.

Abortion remains legal up to 18 weeks in the state as the court weighs another challenge that, if implemented, would ban abortions regardless of trimester, with several exceptions including instances of risk to maternal health as well as rape or incest reported to the police.