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Utah abortion ban remains on hold after ruling by state’s high court

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Utah abortion ban remains on hold after ruling by state’s high court


The Utah Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a block on the state’s near-total abortion ban, leaving in place a law that allows abortions up to 18 weeks of pregnancy. The ruling dealt a blow to Republican legislators who passed the ban two years before Roe v. Wade was overturned and continued to press for restrictions.

That 2020 “trigger law” would prohibit all abortions except in cases of rape, incest or serious risk to the mother’s health, or if two maternal fetal medicine physicians determine that the fetus has a lethal defect or severe brain abnormality. A state district judge blocked the measure shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal protections for abortion in 2022, and Thursday’s 4-1 ruling maintains that suspension while the ban’s constitutionality is litigated in the lower court.

The decision by Utah’s majority-female Supreme Court means abortion remains broadly legal throughout the American West, with the exception of Idaho, where it is prohibited in nearly all cases. A ban is on hold in Wyoming, while voters in at least half a dozen states — including Colorado and Nevada plus possibly Montana and Arizona — will vote in November on ballot measures that would strengthen abortion rights.

Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and ACLU of Utah, which challenged the ban in 2022, hailed the ruling while cautioning that their battle has not ended. They argue that the law violates state constitutional rights to privacy, to bodily integrity and to determine one’s family composition.

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“Today’s decision means that our patients can continue to come to us, their trusted health care providers, to access abortion and other essential reproductive services right here in Utah,” Kathryn Boyd, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said in a statement. But, she added, the group “looks forward to this unconstitutional law being permanently struck down.”

For the legislature’s Republican supermajority, the ruling comes as another court setback. The state says its constitution, ratified in 1895, includes no right to abortion.

The court decision Thursday noted that the justices, all Republican appointees, were addressing only whether the lower court abused its discretion in concluding that Planned Parenthood met the then-standard for an injunction.

“The district court did not,” the majority said, also noting in its ruling that Planned Parenthood “raises serious issues” about the ban’s constitutionality.

Abortion opponents expressed disappointment and even “great sorrow” over the outcome. Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said in a statement that they were “hopeful that this decision will be a temporary setback.” Others went further.

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“The decision made today is a grim reminder that our society has strayed far from the moral compass that once guided us,” Mary Taylor, president of Pro-Life Utah, said in a joint statement with the leaders of Utah Eagle Forum and Abortion-Free Utah Coalition.

Abortion is now mostly or completely prohibited in 18 states, a patchwork that includes much of the South and Midwest. In Idaho, Utah’s neighbor, a sweeping ban allows only some emergency abortions at hospitals after a Supreme Court decision in June. Arizona prohibits abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Planned Parenthood operates three of Utah’s four abortion clinics, which do the vast majority of procedures in the state. In 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, 3,129 abortions were recorded.

Utah’s legislature took aim at those facilities last year, requiring abortions to be performed in hospitals and prohibiting the licensing of such clinics. Planned Parenthood also sued over that measure, which it described as a backdoor attempt by the lawmakers to criminalize abortion even as the judiciary weighed their initial law.

The same district court suspended the clinic law just before it was to take effect. The legislature this year repealed the law in a bid to simplify — and expedite — the high court ruling issued Thursday.

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Nina Dobrev Wears a Bathrobe While in Utah for Sundance Film Festival

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Nina Dobrev Wears a Bathrobe While in Utah for Sundance Film Festival


Nina Dobrev‘s bathrobe photo has fans checking in from Park City, Utah, during Sundance weekend. She posted it 18 hours ago, tagged Park City, and wrote, “Final Sundance in Park City, Utah? bittersweet doesn’t begin to describe it…” Nina’s carousel from the Sundance Film Festival reads like downtime between screenings. The post shows about 480.8K likes and 888 comments.

Nina Dobrev shares a bathrobe photo from Utah during Sundance Film Festival

Have a look at Nina Dobrev in a bathrobe:

Photo Credit: Nina Dobrev Instagram

The “Vampire Diaries” alum wears a plush white hotel robe, loosely cinched at the waist. It falls open at the neckline. Her hair looks half-done, pinned up at the crown, with loose lengths down.

The warm bathroom lighting highlights marble counters and polished wood doors. The photos also landed after she discussed recovering from a dirt bike injury. Fans replied fast, with one writing, “Such a cutie,” another said, “Gorgeous,” and a third added, “THE DIVA”.

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Originally reported by Santanu Das on Reality Tea





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State officials killed three wolves in northern Utah. Here’s why.

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State officials killed three wolves in northern Utah. Here’s why.


The killings took place in a region exempt from federal gray wolf protections.

(Dawn Villella |AP) A gray wolf is pictured in 2004 in Minnesota. Utah officials recently killed three wolves after they were seen near livestock in Cache County.

In a rural stretch of southwestern Cache County, state officials killed three wolves earlier this month after the animals were spotted near livestock, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources confirmed Tuesday.

The wolves were shot Jan. 9 by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said DWR spokesperson Faith Jolley, a move allowed because the animals were found in a small corner of northeastern Utah exempt from federal gray wolf protections.

The region, which lies mostly east of Interstate 15 and extends roughly as far south as Ogden, is considered part of the greater Yellowstone region, where the predator is in recovery. It is the only part of Utah where the state is allowed to manage wolves.

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(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

Across the rest of the state, the animal is considered an endangered species. It’s illegal to hunt, harass, trap, shoot or harm them without permission from the federal government.

Jolley said state law directs DWR to prevent wolves from breeding in the delisted area. While the animals were not considered a pack, she said they were believed to be traveling together.

“Lethal removals ensure they don’t establish breeding populations in Utah,” Jolley wrote in a text message.

Caroline Hargraves, a spokesperson for the state agriculture department, said the wolves were found near Avon, a small census-designated community in Cache County of about 500 residents, surrounded mostly by farmland.

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Utah leaders have long been hostile to wolves for preying on livestock and thwarting hunters. The state has doled out millions in taxpayer dollars in an effort to get gray wolves removed from the federal endangered species list.

Most confirmed wolf sightings in Utah have involved lone wolves, Jolley said, though small groups have been documented on a few occasions since the first confirmed sighting in 2002.

During the past year, she said, a handful of lone wolves have migrated into Utah from Wyoming and Colorado.

Wolves from Wyoming and Idaho have made their way into Utah at least 21 times since 2004, according to DWR. In September, the agency said it was aware of at least one lone male wolf present in the state.



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Utah family fights to bring children home after mother reportedly arrested in Croatia

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Utah family fights to bring children home after mother reportedly arrested in Croatia


Family members of four Utah children who disappeared with their mother in November are speaking out after the children were located in Croatia.

Now, the family is working through international legal channels to bring the children back home.

The children were last seen on surveillance video at Salt Lake City International Airport boarding a flight with their mother, 35-year-old Elleshia Seymour. Authorities say Seymour took the children without the permission of their fathers after posting what family members describe as “doomsday” claims on social media.

MORE | Missing Children

Seymour was arrested in Dubrovnik on January 15 after the family says news articles alerted people she was talking to in Croatia about the accused kidnapping. She now faces four felony counts of custodial interference. Since her arrest, the four children have been placed in a government-run children’s center in Croatia.

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Jill Seymour, the children’s aunt, has been in Croatia for nine days with her brother Kendall Seymour, who is three of the children’s fathers. They are trying to secure their release.

“We’re just kind of in limbo waiting to get them out,” Seymour said. “These are our kids, and we can’t get custody of them.”

She says the family is only allowed to see the children for two hours a day. Despite providing the requested documentation, the family has not yet been given a clear timeline for when the children can return home.

“They are most definitely trapped there, and they feel trapped,” Seymour said. “We don’t have a clear-cut answer. We’ve provided all the documents we’ve been asked to provide.”

The family has hired Croatian attorneys and is working with the U.S. Embassy to navigate the legal process. Utah-based attorney Skye Lazaro, who has experience with international custody cases, says Croatia’s participation in the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction could ultimately help the family.

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“In this case, it’s a good thing and a benefit that they are part of this Hague Convention,” Lazaro said.

However, Lazaro explained that the process can be slow due to translation requirements and court procedures in the foreign country.

“It requires retaining an attorney in that country who can translate the documents into Croatian and provide all the necessary information to a court,” Lazaro said. “That stuff just takes time.”

If local legal efforts stall, the family can formally petition under the Hague Convention, which may speed up the process, though it could still take several weeks.

“To have to continually say goodbye every day is very hard,” Seymour said. “It’s an emotional rollercoaster.”

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As the legal battle continues, the family is also facing mounting expenses, including short-term housing in Croatia and international legal fees. A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover costs and pay for the children’s flight home.

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