But that won't happen again. Bramble anticipates his bills will go to an early public hearing and pass the Senate with votes to spare. "I think we had the votes before" for passage last year, he added. The House, too, will pass them, he believes.

All of this is a waste of time and effort, said Galloway. "What are legislators doing about sex education in the schools? What are they doing about helping to stop unintended pregnancies? They won't deal with these really important issues because of the problem politics involved."

Planned Parenthood has "a fantastic curriculum" in high schools on abstinence from sex — the only kind of pregnancy prevention lawmakers will allow to be taught — yet some legislators are still trying to take away all public funding for Planned Parenthood, she said.

"I find it irresponsible to take up any of the legislators' precious time on these bills again," she said, adding the bills may well be unconstitutional.

"We are not trying to overturn Roe v. Wade," Bramble said, referring to the 1973 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. "We are not saying a woman can't chose an abortion but that the state, and so all taxpayers, can't be forced to pay for it" and that late-term, partial-birth abortions can't be conducted in Utah.

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