The
Idaho
Supreme Court upheld the state’s near-total
abortion
ban, marking the latest legal success for state trigger laws after a federal right to abortion was dismantled last year.
Planned Parenthood
challenged the state’s
2020 trigger
law that was to go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned
Roe v. Wade
, which
happened
last summer. The law only permits abortions if the mother’s life is in danger or if a pregnancy occurs from rape or incest, requiring victims to file a police report.
Chief Justice Robyn Brody wrote the
majority opinion
, which was joined by Justices Richard Bevan and Justice Gregory Moeller, contending that plaintiffs failed to show that a right to abortion was embedded in the state constitution’s inalienable rights clause.
SOUTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT TOSSES OUT 6-WEEK ABORTION BAN
“What Petitioners are asking this Court to ultimately do is to declare a right to abortion under the Idaho Constitution when—on its face—there is none,” Brody wrote. “In fact, before Roe announced a federal constitutional right to abortion in 1973, abortion had been a long-standing criminal offense in Idaho.”
The majority opinion noted that for the court to find an alleged fundamental right to abortion, it must examine the state constitution and its framers’ intent for the inalienable rights clause.
“Applying that test to this dispute, the majority concludes there is no support for a conclusion that a right to abortion was ‘deeply rooted’ at the time the Inalienable Rights Clause was adopted,”
the ruling
says.
The court’s majority added that relevant history and traditions of Idaho “show abortion was viewed as an immoral act and treated as a crime.”
The state’s newest justice, Colleen Zahn, and Justice John Stegner dissented.
“This Court’s solemn duty is to protect the people and their rights from encroachment by the government,” Stegner wrote in his dissent. “That duty has gone unfulfilled today, and it is the people of Idaho who will suffer for it.”
The court signaled in August that it would deny Planned Parenthood’s challenge, deciding by a 3-2 vote that it would decline to stay the implementation of the trigger ban.
President Joe Biden’s
Justice Department
filed a
lawsuit
against Idaho in August, arguing the state’s ban violates the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, specifically the requirement that hospitals provide emergency care to prevent serious risk to a mother’s health.
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U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill granted a narrow injunction on Aug. 24, blocking only the prosecution of abortions in emergency situations at hospitals that accept Medicare funds.
Other states with abortion trigger bans include Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas. Such bans in Utah and Wyoming are currently stalled pending court action.
