Utah Planned Parenthood official blasts abortion drug measure
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
Planned Parenthood of Utah held an abortion rights rally on Saturday, May 14, 2022, in front of the Ogden Municipal Building. It was one of four set for Utah and many more all across the country. The rally was called in response to the possible striking down of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that deemed that women have a constitutional right to abortions, by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the photo, protesters wave signs as traffic passes on Washington Boulevard in Ogden.The leader of Planned Parenthood in Utah is blasting U.S. Rep. Blake Moore’s proposal that would let pharmacists turn back those seeking prescriptions for medications that can cause abortions.
“Rep. Moore’s blatant disregard for women seeking medical care is deeply concerning. We do not support any law that interferes with people getting the medication they have been prescribed by their medical provider,” Karrie Galloway, the president and chief executive officer of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said in a statement to the Standard-Examiner.
Moore and two other GOP lawmakers on Wednesday announced they had introduced the Pharmacist Conscience Protection Act to protect pharmacists from legal repercussions if they decline to provide medication that causes abortions stemming from their personal moral objections. It came in response to guidance from the administration of President Joe Biden aimed at protecting access to medications that are used in abortions, among other things.
The guidance issued July 13 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services specified scenarios where certain medications are used not necessarily for abortions, but for other medical procedures, like to aid women who have miscarriages. To deny access to such medications can amount to sex discrimination, said the HHS.
Galloway, in her statement, alluded to the U.S. Supreme Court decision last June to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that had defended access to abortion as a constitutional right.
“We are in a national health crisis,” Galloway said. “The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has already had reverberating consequences beyond abortion. People should have confidence that they can access their critical prescriptions without fear of being denied medications due to their pharmacist’s personal beliefs.”
Meantime, a contingent of Utah lawmakers on Thursday sent a series of warning letters to advocates of abortion rights in the state. They say abortion providers can still potentially face legal repercussions if they perform certain abortions, notwithstanding a preliminary court injunction imposed against implementation of Utah’s “trigger” law in the wake of the June Supreme Court ruling.
Reps. Karianne Lisonbee of Clearfield and Kera Bierkland of Morgan said in a statement that “elective abortion remains a felony criminal offense in Utah” despite the court injunction. Abortions meant to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape, among a handful of other scenarios, are legal.
In the letters to the abortion advocates, the lawmakers warn “that anyone who is currently violating Utah’s trigger ban will be prosecuted in the future for those crimes if the preliminary injunction is vacated or reversed on appeal,” said the statement from Lisonbee and Bierkland, who are Republicans. “In addition, the legislators are warning that federal law imposes felony criminal liability on anyone who sends or receives abortion-inducing drugs in interstate commerce.”