SALT LAKE CITY — Senate Bill 174, Utah's bill to ban abortion, passed the second reading in the Senate Friday despite debate on the floor.
The bill to ban elective abortions in Utah won't take effect unless Roe v. Wade is overturned.
"It would put Utah on the record as knowing that’s where we would be if it was ever overruled," said Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, the bill's sponsor.
It carves out clear exceptions for the health of the mother, baby, rape cases and incest cases.
"I’m hopeful that we get to a point where we don't feel like women need to have an abortion," McCay told FOX 13 after the vote.
Katie Matheson with Alliance for a Better Utah did not like Friday's vote.
"We continue to have to have these debates when the time could be spent really helping Utahns," she said.
Mary Taylor, the president of Pro-Life Utah, was in support of the vote.
"Our goal is to see hearts and minds change and for abortion to become not just illegal but unthinkable," she said.
Governor Gary Herbert told FOX 13 on Thursday, the day before the vote, that he has some objections to the bill.
The bill still has another reading in the Senate before it can move on to the House and possibly to the governor's desk.
