Calay News
The US Supreme Court, dominated by conservatives, decided on Friday to reinstate an almost complete abortion ban in the western state of Idaho while the legal challenge against the law is being considered. The court, which had overturned the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, scheduled oral arguments for the Idaho case in April.
Idaho possesses one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, allowing it only if the pregnant person faces an imminent risk of death. The Biden administration sued Idaho, arguing that its law conflicts with a federal statute requiring publicly funded hospitals to provide emergency medical care, including abortion, in serious but not necessarily life-threatening situations.
The Department of Justice stated, “Nothing shields a doctor from being arrested or criminally prosecuted under Idaho law, and a doctor performing an abortion in Idaho can only avoid criminal liability by establishing that ‘the abortion was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.'”
Beyond the necessary care to prevent death, the law provides no defense when the health of the pregnant patient is at stake.
A federal judge in Boise, Idaho’s capital, issued a preliminary injunction in August 2022 to block the state law, citing the precarious position it put doctors in.
The Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned the constitutional right to abortion left states free to enact their own laws on the procedure. This decision comes in the wake of a Texas woman having to leave the state for an urgent abortion after being denied the right to terminate a potentially life-threatening pregnancy.
In Texas, doctors convicted of performing abortions face penalties of up to 99 years in prison, fines of up to $100,000, and the revocation of their medical licenses. Under Idaho’s “Life Defense Act,” anyone performing an abortion could face up to five years in prison.
