Utah prosecutor says he won’t enforce strict abortion law
Posted May 15, 2019 11:29 am.
SALT LAKE CITY — The chief prosecutor in the county with Utah’s only two abortion clinics says he won’t enforce a new law banning most procedures after 18 weeks.
The decision announced Tuesday by Democratic Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill marks the latest example of an official resisting such laws passed by states around the country.
Gill says the law appears unconstitutional.
Still, Utah’s Republican attorney general is defending it against a court challenge.
Gill has secured a federal order confirming his office won’t have to enforce the law as the legal challenge plays out.
He says that would change if the law is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Michigan’s attorney general has pledged not to enforce that state’s pre-existing abortion ban if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press
