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The Utah Senate debated only 53 seconds Thursday before giving final passage to a bill requiring Utah women seeking an abortion to wait 72 hours.
Senators voted 22-6 to pass HB461, and sent it to Gov. Gary Herbert for his signature.
The bill will triple the waiting period — from 24 to 72 hours. That will tie South Dakota for the nation's longest. However, a federal judge has blocked the South Dakota law from taking effect, saying the waiting period and other restrictions in the law posed an undue burden to women.
The only speaker during debate Thursday was Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who briefly explained the bill.
A day earlier, the Senate conducted preliminary debate on the bill — but also spent only about a minute before voting and Bramble was the sole speaker.
Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, sponsor of the bill, told the House in earlier debate, "An abortion cannot be undone. … Why would we not want to afford a woman facing a life-changing decision 72 hours to consider ramifications that could last a lifetime?"
Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, was the only lawmaker to speak against the measure when it was in the House, noting that in her dozen years in the Capitol every abortion bill was sponsored by a male legislator.
Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, said that in her 12 years in the Legislature, every abortion bill she has seen has had two common threads — they sought to reduce the number of abortions and, "second, they were all run by men."
The best way to reduce abortions, she said, is to offer comprehensive sex education, or to help single mothers with services for their children, both of which have been rejected by the Legislature.
"I think this is another example of government intrusion into the private, difficult decisions that adults have to make," said Moss, the only representative to speak against the measure in a debate that lasted less than 15 minutes.
HB461 has been opposed by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood of Utah.