by Kate Anderson
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a lower court decision to block Idaho’s abortion ban Thursday, according to court documents.
U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Idaho B. Lynn Winmill (pictured above), who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, ruled in August that the law could stop doctors from referring patients to abortion clinics in other states in an emergency due to fear of prosecution. A panel of judges appointed by former President Donald Trump, however, determined that the state’s case to uphold the ban was likely to succeed and that for the time being “public interest is best served by preserving the force and effect of a duly enacted Idaho law,” according to court documents.
“The federal government has no discernable interest in regulating the internal medical affairs of the State, and the public interest is best served by preserving the force and effect of a duly enacted Idaho law during the pendency of this appeal,” the court wrote. “Therefore, the balance of the equities and the public interest support a stay in this case.”
The trigger law was passed in March 2020 but did not go into effect until after the Supreme Court overturned Roe in June 2022 and bans all abortion except in the cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother, according to the legislation. Doctors who violate this law face felony charges and up to five years imprisonment.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the state in August 2022, arguing that the law would allow the state to charge any physician who performs an abortion to protect the “health of the pregnant patient” with a crime, according to court documents. The department claimed that the enforcement of the bill would also conflict with the Emergency Medical Treatment Act, which ensures “public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay and Labor Act,” but the appeals court noted that the state Supreme Court had cleared this issue up in its ruling in January for a different lawsuit.
“The Supreme Court of Idaho clarified that the text of the exception means what it says: If a doctor subjectively believes, in his or her good faith medical judgment, that an abortion is necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman, then the exception applies,” the opinion reads.
The DOJ’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Kate Anderson is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
