DOJ ASKS FOR PAUSE ON IDAHO’S BAN ON ABORTION

The U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal judge this week to bar Idaho from enforcing its near-total abortion ban while a lawsuit pitting federal health care law against state anti-abortion legislation is under way.

Meanwhile, the Republican-led Idaho Legislature is asking for permission to intervene in the federal case, just as it has done in three other abortion-related lawsuits filed in state courts.

The complex legal maneuvering playing out in Idaho is becoming increasingly common in red states as the American landscape of reproductive care continues to feel the aftershocks from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning decades of abortion rights rulings.

Judges in the neighboring states of Montana and Wyoming were weighing similar requests, with the Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday keeping three abortion laws on pause and the Wyoming judge expected to issue a ruling soon.

“If allowed to go into effect, the Idaho law will cause significant irreparable harm, including to the public health of patients across Idaho,” Justice Department attorney Lisa Newman wrote in court documents filed Monday.

The Justice Department sued Idaho last week over the state’s strict abortion ban, saying it would force doctors to violate the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a federal law that requires anyone coming to a medical facility for emergency treatment to be stabilized and treated.

The law enacted in 2020 and set up as a “trigger law” takes effect on Aug. 25 now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade.

The law criminalizes all abortions, and anyone who performs, attempts or assists with abortions can face two to five years in prison in addition to losing their health care license.

However, physicians who perform abortions to save a patient’s life, or in cases of rape or incest, can use that information as a legal defense during the criminal trial.