SALT LAKE CITY — Several state lawmakers joined anti-abortion activists and religious leaders at a memorial service Wednesday for the estimated 1,746 unborn babies terminated since Utah's trigger abortion ban was placed on hold in June.

Gathered on the steps of the state Capitol, about 100 mourners listened as several faith leaders eulogized the unborn and decried a court decision that paused the state's trigger ban. For eight minutes before the memorial began, loudspeakers played the sound of a fetal heartbeat, before a moment of silence was observed.

"The loss of any baby through abortion is tragic but I think the loss of these babies hit us just a little bit harder knowing that they came so close to being spared this horror," Mary Taylor, president of Pro-Life Utah, said in a statement.

Rev. Gregory Johnson, of Utah's Standing Together evangelical church, pointed to 1,746 carnations on the steps behind him, saying each flower represents one of the unborn children.

"Every one of these babies was filled with infinite potential and hope for a brighter future," he said. "They were clean and pure and beautiful and wonderful and full of love. These precious little souls were not allowed to be born and to come into life. These delicate little lives were not given that choice, and so today we honor their lives."

Elder K. Bruce Boucher, Utah area seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, opened the memorial with prayer, asking that "we might be able to bring about a great change in the hearts of some that may be with us today."

The Knights of Columbus honor guard stands by a symbolic casket during a Pro-Life Utah memorial service at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, to honor the lives of 1,746 unborn babies that were aborted in Utah in 2022. -Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Deanna Holland, executive director of Pro-Life Utah, called the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey a "miracle," and praised the Legislature for passing a trigger ban in 2020, in anticipation of such a ruling.

"Roe and Casey came crashing down," she said. "That very same day, Utah's trigger law went into effect, and for just a moment, abortion stopped. We breathed the breath of air of righteousness and praised God that Utah babies would be saved."

"And then the devil showed his face," Holland said, referencing a lawsuit by the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and the ACLU of Utah, which ultimately led to the trigger ban being placed on hold.

Anti-abortion groups hold memorial for unborn babies aborted in Utah https://www.ksl.com/article/50565241/anti-abortion-groups-hold-memorial-for-unborn-babies-aborted-in-utah