Idaho Asks Supreme Court To Allow Crackdown On Abortion Doctors While Awaiting Ban’s Appeal

Topline

Idaho asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay, allowing it to enforce a restrictive abortion ban—which has been tied up in court challenges—that criminalizes the procedure and threatens abortion providers with jail time.

Idaho has asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay allowing them to enforce a strict abortion … [+] ban that would include criminal penalties for abortion providers.

TNS

Key Facts

Lawyers for the state of Idaho asked for an emergency stay, allowing the state to enforce its strict abortion ban while it awaits a legal challenge from the Biden administration.

Idaho’s abortion ban, the Defense of Life Act, bans abortions at all stages of pregnancy and makes performing or attempting to perform an abortion a felony, with exceptions for the life of the mother and for victims or rape or incest.

Doctors and other medical professionals who are found guilty of criminal abortion face a minimum sentence of two years in prison and face a six-month license suspension, according to the statute.

Idaho District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill overturned the law in 2022, finding the law violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment to all patients.

A panel of three Trump-appointed judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling in September, allowing Idaho to enforce the ban.

But another nine judge panel from the same court reversed the decision again in October, agreeing with Judge Winmill’s assessment that emergency room doctors could be hamstrung by the threat of prosecution for providing treatment

Chief Critic

Lawyers for the state of Idaho argued that the the Biden administration’s use of EMTALA went against the purpose of the law. “EMTALA is silent on abortion and actually requires stabilizing treatment for the unborn children of pregnant women,” the state argued in the filing. “Congress did not enact EMTALA to address abortion at all, but ‘to respond to the specific problem of hospital emergency rooms refusing to treat patients who were uninsured or who could otherwise not pay for treatment.’” Other conservative activists agreed. “Hospitals—especially emergency rooms—are centers for preserving life. The government has no business transforming them into abortion clinics,” said Erin Hawley, the senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian conservative legal group heavily involved in anti-abortion litigation across the country. Lawyers for the ADF have assisted the Idaho Attorney General’s Office in the current legal battle.

Key Background

Idaho began enforcing the Defense of Life Act on August 25, 2022, about two months after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the longstanding right to abortion. The law was a so-called “trigger law,” designed to go into effect immediately after Roe v. Wade was overturned. A total of 13 states passed trigger laws, and another six had bans passed before Roe v. Wade still in place. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, Idaho has since expanded the ban, limiting the exceptions for rape and incest to only the first trimester. The state also passed a law in April 2023 making it illegal to help a minor obtain abortion pills or leave the state for an abortion without their parents’ consent.

What To Watch For

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral arguments for the case on January 22, 2024. The case will be heard “en banc,” which typically means the entire court will hear the case. Because of the 9th Circuit’s large size, only 11 of the 28 justices will be chosen at random to hear the case, which include 15 appointed by Democratic presidents and 13 appointed by Republicans.

Tangent

A similar lawsuit is playing out in Texas, where the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is considering the Biden administration’s arguments against their restrictive abortion ban, which bans the procedure in all cases except to save the life of the mother. Similar to Idaho’s statute, abortion in Texas is a second-degree felony, punishable by a minimum of two years and maximum of 20 years in prison. The law is simultaneously facing a lawsuit brought by a total of 20 Texan women and the Center for Reproductive Rights, who say that hospitals there refused to provide care due to “hostile abortion landscape” that has “stoked fear and confusion among pregnant people and doctors throughout the state.” The Texas Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for the case on Tuesday.