President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing Idaho over a state abortion law in the first such DOJ lawsuit following the Supreme Court’s June 24 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleges that Idaho’s abortion ban, which is set to take effect Aug. 25, will prevent doctors from performing medically necessary abortions and that enforcement will result in women’s deaths. The lawsuit lists ectopic pregnancies and severe preeclampsia as conditions that doctors would be prevented from treating under the law.
Idaho’s abortion ban was passed in 2020 as a “trigger law” set to go into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The law threatens healthcare professionals who perform criminal abortions with two to five years in prison and requires those who do perform abortions to prove that they did so to save the life of the mother.
The bill allows exceptions for rape and incest if the mother shows the abortionist documentation from law enforcement or child protective services. It does not allow for the prosecution of women who seek or receive abortions or medical professionals who unintentionally end a fetal life.
Idaho’s trigger law -which I signed in 2020- bans all abortion in the State of Idaho with few exceptions. SCOTUS just issued its official judgment overturning Roe v. Wade and returning the issue of abortion to the states to regulate.
The law officially takes effect August 25.
— Brad Little (@GovernorLittle) July 26, 2022
In the days since the Dobbs decision, there have been widespread reports of delays or denials to pregnant women experiencing medical emergencies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that pregnant women get the medical care that they are entitled to.”
The White House and the DOJ did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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