The state Attorney General is appealing a ruling that narrowly expanded abortion care in the Idaho.
Dr. Tracy Seyb, a physician specializing in complicated pregnancies at St. Luke’s, sued the state in 2024, arguing Idaho’s strict abortion ban prevented him from offering medically necessary care to his patients.
Under the law, doctors can provide abortions under limited circumstances: in case of rape, and incest - if a police report is produced - and when the life of the mother is in danger. Physicians can face felony charges, loss of their medical license and up to five years in prison if prosecuted for providing an abortion outside those parameters.
Last week, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill deemed parts of the “Defense of Life Act” unconstitutional and ruled a woman can also get an abortion when her health is threatened - including if she’s at risk of suicide.
In his opinion, he said it was an affront to human dignity to deny life saving care to a patient on the basis that the threat came from a mental health condition rather than a physical one.
On Thursday, Raúl Labrador filed an emergency motion to block the ruling from being applied while the appeal works its way through the courts.
The Attorney General’s filing argues Winmill’s ruling is too broad: blocking the law from being enforced against all doctors in Idaho, instead of just the plaintiff seeking relief, Dr. Seyb.
“Dobbs made clear that abortion policy belongs to the people and their elected state representatives, not the judiciary,” Labrador wrote in a statement, “We have appealed to the Ninth Circuit, and we will fight until this ruling is reversed and Idaho’s law is restored.”
No court date for the appeal trial has been released yet.
