--- title: Utah Governor Signs Bill Legalizing Sex Outside Marriage description: Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed a bill that decriminalizes sex outside of marriage. It was previously punishable by up to six months in jail. canonical: https://time.com/5561152/utah-governor-gary-herbert-fornication-bill/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-29T15:41:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:10:48.614Z article:section: Politics og:title: Utah Legalizes Sex Outside Marriage After Governor Signs Bill Decriminalizing 'Fornication' og:description: It was a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail og:url: https://time.com/5561152/utah-governor-gary-herbert-fornication-bill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3302322f29c57551/698947874ee2622b0a314427/utah-gov-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2019 Sundance Film Festival - Salt Lake Opening Night Screening Of "The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind" Presented By Zions Bank og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Utah Legalizes Sex Outside Marriage After Governor Signs Bill Decriminalizing 'Fornication' twitter:description: It was a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3302322f29c57551/698947874ee2622b0a314427/utah-gov-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Utah Legalizes Sex Outside Marriage After Governor Signs Bill Rolling Back 1973 'Fornication' Law by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Mar 29, 2019 3:41 PM UTC  Governor of Utah Gary Herbert speaks during Salt Lake Opening Night Screening Of "The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind" Presented By Zions Bank during 2019 Sundance Film Festival at Rose Wagner Theatre on January 25, 2019 in Park City, Utah. Governor of Utah Gary Herbert speaks during Salt Lake Opening Night Screening Of "The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind" Presented By Zions Bank during 2019 Sundance Film Festival at Rose Wagner Theatre on January 25, 2019 in Park City, Utah.Neilson Barnard—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Mar 29, 2019 3:41 PM UTC Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has signed a bill that decriminalizes sex outside of marriage in the state. Herbert signed Senate Bill 43 into law on Wednesday, the governor’s office confirmed to TIME. “Fornication,” which is sex outside of marriage, was classified as a [class B misdemeanor](https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title76/Chapter7/76-7-S104.html) and punishable by up to [six months in jail](https://www.utcourts.gov/howto/criminallaw/penalties.asp), according to a 1973 Utah state law. The bill includes a repeal of the offense of fornication and was sponsored by state Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne. The bill amends other terms in the criminal code legislation, including penalties and offenses related to clandestine drug labs, electronic communications harassment and the return of a marriage license to a county clerk. Utah’s state legislature passed the bill earlier in March. Herbert on Monday signed a separate bill that [decriminalizes adultery and sodomy](https://le.utah.gov/~2019/bills/static/SB0043.html) between consenting adults, which also constituted misdemeanor crimes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5561152/utah-governor-gary-herbert-fornication-bill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5561152/utah-governor-gary-herbert-fornication-bill/"},"headline":"Utah Legalizes Sex Outside Marriage After Governor Signs Bill Rolling Back 1973 'Fornication' Law","datePublished":"2019-03-29T15:41:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:10:48.614Z","description":"It was a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail","url":"https://time.com/5561152/utah-governor-gary-herbert-fornication-bill/","keywords":["Utah","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3302322f29c57551/698947874ee2622b0a314427/utah-gov-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3302322f29c57551/698947874ee2622b0a314427/utah-gov-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2019 Sundance Film Festival - Salt Lake Opening Night Screening Of \"The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind\" Presented By Zions Bank","caption":"2019 Sundance Film Festival - Salt Lake Opening Night Screening Of \"The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind\" Presented By Zions Bank","creditText":"Neilson Barnard—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/utah/","name":"Utah"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5561152/utah-governor-gary-herbert-fornication-bill/","name":"Utah Legalizes Sex Outside Marriage After Governor Signs Bill Rolling Back 1973 'Fornication' Law"}}]}] ```