Confusion prompts Utah to clarify abortion law

The Utah Health Department issued an administrative rule clarifying a new law that makes it a crime for healthcare providers to perform abortions using state funds except in certain cases, such as rape, incest or if the mother's health is at risk. The law became effective in May, and many providers suspended all abortions because of the confusion surrounding it. The administrative rule expands the list of exceptions to include pregnancies complicated by grave fetal defects and clarifies when hospitals are in compliance with the law. "The hospitals approached us in mid-May and asked us to create this rule," said the health department's executive director, Scott Williams, in a news release. "We worked with them on the language and came up with a process that will allow them to certify that their use of public and private funds for abortions is consistent with the new law." -- by Mark Taylor