SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A newly proposed bill at the Utah legislature would block providers who perform elective abortions from being reimbursed by the state for Medicaid costs.

It comes as Planned Parenthood of Utah is tied up in a federal court case that recently blocked its ability to accept Medicaid insurance after the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Congress’s law to go into effect.

The proposed bill, as it’s written right now, exempts hospitals and any clinic with more than $500 million in revenue, but would make this so-called “defund” provision take effect at the state level.

Presumably, Utah’s bill would impact smaller clinics, like Planned Parenthood of Utah, and those in private practice.

The bill, being run by Rep. Nicholeen Peck (R-Tooele County), has carveouts for abortions performed as the result of a “dead fetus, ectopic pregnancy, an abortion that is necessary to avert the death of a woman, an abortion that is necessary to avert a serious physical risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function of a woman, an abortion of a fetus that has a defect that is uniformly diagnosable and uniformly lethal, or an abortion where the woman is pregnant as a result of rape or incest.”

ABC4 has reached out to Peck for comment on the bill and is waiting to hear back.

Planned Parenthood of Utah responds

This bill was introduced the same day that Planned Parenthood of Utah had its federal funding partially restored under the Title X Family Planning Program, though there is no indication that the timing was intentional.

In a statement provided to ABC4, Planned Parenthood of Utah stressed that Medicaid funding does not cover abortion care and described denying Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood as “unconscionable and unsustainable.”

President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah Shireen Ghorbani said that it is vital for Medicaid patients to have the freedom to choose health care providers they trust.

“As Rep. Peck should be aware, the Trump administration and Congress have already blocked patients with Medicaid from choosing Planned Parenthood for their care. Since this law took effect in September, our patients with Medicaid have been forced to make difficult decisions to go without care or pay out of pocket to see the provider they trust,” Ghorbani said.

She also stated, “Let’s be clear–Medicaid dollars do not cover abortion care. What they do cover is basic preventative reproductive health care, like birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment.”

“Rep Peck’s dangerous and misguided political attempts to insert herself into Utahns’ private medical decisions will mean that cancers will go undetected, STIs will go untreated, and patients won’t get the birth control they need,” Ghorbani concluded.

Peck’s other bills

Peck is also running several other potentially controversial bills.

• H.B. 193 prohibits the use of public funds to pay for certain transgender medical treatments or procedures.
• H.B. 95 prohibits a public employer from taking disciplinary action against an employee for using the wrong pronouns.
• H.B. 127 repeals the requirement for the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a community education program regarding “female genital mutilation.”
• H.B. 197 proposes a change to Utah’s sensitive materials law to block vendors if three or more digital materials violate Utah’s sensitive materials law. Creates a host of new requirements of the Utah State Board of Education to send to parents.
• H.J.R. 12 is a resolution that “promotes strengthening households of married parents with children.”