Utah’s Planned Parenthood affiliate explored an initiative to help elect moderate Republican candidates to the state legislature as recently as January, Autonomy News has learned. Abortion is currently legal until 18 weeks in Utah, but the state is trying to enforce a near-total ban currently blocked by a court order.
Autonomy News obtained notes from a January meeting of the Regional Abortion Alliance, a coalition of advocates in the Rocky Mountain and Southwest region, which said that members in Utah were “working on a project to run moderate Republicans against a few far-right legislators that run the majority of anti-abortion bills.”
A source familiar with deliberations over the project said Planned Parenthood Action Council of Utah (PPAC), the advocacy arm of the statewide affiliate, was involved in that effort. PPAC planned to indirectly support moderate Republicans challenging incumbents via contributions to political action committees, the source said, which would allow them to boost the moderates without voters knowing they were involved.
In response to a request for comment, a PPAC spokesperson confirmed that the organization did consider such a plan, but said it didn’t move forward. “Planned Parenthood Action Council of Utah is not working on a project to run or support moderate Republicans against incumbents,” Katrina Barker, the organization’s chief external affairs officer, said. “While the topic was discussed earlier this year, PPAC does not have any plans to pursue this.”
Planned Parenthood Federation of America has nearly four dozen local and regional affiliates that run hundreds of clinics nationwide. Planned Parenthood Association of Utah is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates health centers in the state. Such charitable organizations are largely prohibited from engaging in political activity. PPAC, on the other hand, is registered as a 501(c)(4), meaning it is a social welfare organization that can lobby for legislation and participate in political campaigns. At present, every affiliate has both a (c)(3) and a (c)(4) arm, as does the national organization. This is the first time it’s been reported that a Planned Parenthood affiliate considered using political action committees to help elect Republicans after the fall of Roe v. Wade.
While it is not uncommon for political parties or campaigns to boost candidates on the other side of the aisle, it’s typically done to elevate opponents the group thinks are more beatable, not to help someone in the opposing party win. And it doesn’t always work: In the 2016 presidential cycle, Hillary Clinton’s campaign boosted Donald Trump as a bank shot to try to take down Jeb Bush. Trump won both the primary and the presidency. Still, in a state like Utah—where a Republican “trifecta” has controlled both legislative chambers and the governorship for 35 years—the GOP primary is effectively the general election.
Utah lawmakers have been relentless in trying to end abortion. The legislature passed a “trigger” ban in 2020, a law intended to automatically prohibit nearly all abortions in the event that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The law briefly took effect in 2022 after the Dobbs decision, but Planned Parenthood Association of Utah won a preliminary injunction blocking its enforcement. However, an 18-week ban from 2019, which also had a trigger mechanism, was allowed to take effect.
Then-Attorney General Sean Reyes asked the state supreme court to lift the injunction blocking the total ban from taking effect in 2022, a request the court denied in 2024. In 2023, legislators tried to work around the courts by passing a law that would end licensing of abortion clinics and force all abortions to be done in hospitals. Hospitals provide only a fraction of all abortion care in the U.S.—typically for complicated pregnancies, and at a much higher cost than clinics. Advocates, including PPAU, argued that this was effectively an abortion ban, and they got a judge to block the law.
In 2026, PPAC successfully lobbied against bills that would have kicked the affiliate out of the state Medicaid program, required public schools to show a medically inaccurate video on embryonic and fetal development, and redefined what counts as an "elective" abortion. Some Republicans voted against these bills, as blocking any policy would require given the party’s control of the legislature. But PPAC lost the fight that may prove most important.
Early this year, the legislature passed a law allowing the Attorney General to transfer cases challenging state laws from the typical district court to a newly created three-judge “constitutional court” panel. Current AG Derek Brown asked to move the abortion ban lawsuit from state court to a panel, and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and other plaintiffs quickly sued, arguing that the new panel is unconstitutional. A trial dedicated to the abortion ban was scheduled for April 16, but was canceled while litigation over the panel itself plays out.
The Utah constitution has an inalienable rights clause which says, “All persons have the inherent and inalienable right to enjoy and defend their lives and liberties.” The state Supreme Court said that was enough to temporarily block the abortion ban as legal proceedings continued. Following legal defeats on abortion as well as redistricting, the Utah legislature also expanded the number of justices on the state Supreme Court from five to seven. Governor Spencer Cox has yet to nominate the two new justices.
Asked about PPAC's current 2026 electoral strategy, Barker said, “as always, we will support pro-reproductive health candidates at the state and local level.”
This story was edited by Garnet Henderson and copy edited and fact checked by Hannah McAlilly.
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