Idaho lawmakers and officials are asking the state supreme court to lift its stay on the implementation of a Texas-style abortion ban shortly before justices take up a case to overturn the law.
In court documents, attorneys for state lawmakers said continuing to block the law from taking effect is “indefensible” in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade last month.
The longstanding case decided in 1973 guaranteed the right to obtain some abortions in all states.
The Texas-style legislation passed earlier this year would give the family of an aborted fetus the right to sue the doctor who performed the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy.
A regional Planned Parenthood group sued to overturn the law in March and the Idaho Supreme Court temporarily blocked it soon after.
Lawmakers said the medical organization is asking the court to “invent a state constitutional right to abortion.”
That's "...despite the utter lack of basis in the language or history of our Constitution, in precedent, or our people’s values and traditions for such an act of judicial power," attorneys for the Idaho legislature said.
Planned Parenthood responded by saying the law is unconstitutional for other reasons, despite earlier having argued there’s an inherent right to privacy in the Idaho Constitution that covers medical decisions like abortions.
Planned Parenthood is also suing to overturn an Idaho law passed in 2020 that would ban all abortions except for those in cases of rape, incest or when a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother.
Some lawmakers have called on Gov. Brad Little to convene a special legislative session to consider outlawing abortion in the Idaho Constitution, but Little has been mum on the issue.
Oral arguments in both cases are scheduled for Aug. 3.
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