Federal appeals court hears challenge to Idaho pro-life law

A federal appeals court on Tuesday was scheduled to hear arguments in a case claiming that Idaho’s strict pro-life law violates the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. The 1986 law requires hospitals to perform stabilizing measures for patients in emergencies, and the Biden administration has claimed those could include aborting a baby. Idaho’s Defense of Life Act protects unborn babies except when the life of the mother is in danger or cases of rape or incest. Physicians who perform abortions outside of those exceptions could face criminal penalties under the law. 

Currently, a temporary court injunction is allowing the procedure in emergency situations until the litigation plays out, but abortion remains illegal in other cases under the state law.

What has happened in the case so far? The Center for Reproductive Rights in 2023 sued the state on behalf of the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians, two doctors, and four women. The lawsuit claimed Idaho’s law put women at risk of health complications. The four women sought abortions after doctors diagnosed their unborn babies with disabilities or abnormalities. The Idaho law does not include potentially fatal fetal anomalies or life-limiting fetal conditions as allowable reasons for a woman to receive an abortion. Lawyers for the Center for Reproductive Rights argued that the diagnoses put the defendants at increased risk of developing potentially life-threatening conditions.

On the other side, Dr. Jeffrey Wright told the pro-life organization Live Action that all pregnancies carry risks of complications. Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador has said the state law does not prevent physicians from providing lifesaving treatment in the case of dangerous complications.

A judge in November allowed the case to move forward to the federal courts after ruling that the law did not violate the state constitution.

Have there been similar challenges? The U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 challenged Idaho’s law saying it violated the same federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. The U.S. Supreme Court in January agreed to hear the case but in June referred the issue back to lower courts and reinstated a district court order allowing doctors to perform emergency abortions.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Savas’ report in Vitals about the Supreme Court hearing about Idaho’s law.