The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has paused a lower court injunction that allowed one doctor in Idaho to perform an abortion if the pregnancy threatens the health of the mother.
The lawsuit from Dr. Stacy Seyb argues Idaho’s abortion ban violates the constitutional rights of pregnant women.
That’s because current state law only allows healthcare workers to perform an abortion to prevent the death of the mother – instead of preserving her physical or mental health.
In August, an Idaho federal judge agreed with Seyb, saying America has a deeply rooted tradition of allowing abortions for health-related reasons.
A three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit overturned the lower court’s injunction Friday. The full appeal from the Idaho attorney general’s office is still ongoing.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade found no constitutional right to an abortion, instead allowing states to regulate the procedure as they saw fit.
The majority of the 9th Circuit panel wrote the state’s interest in preserving fetal life “clearly outweighs” Seyb having to wait for a final resolution in the case.
“We think it unlikely that Dr. Seyb will be able to square the district court’s perspective on the history and tradition concerning abortions with the Supreme Court’s perspective in Dobbs,” Judge Consuelo Callahan wrote.
In cases of threatened suicide, Callahan said doctors do not have to resort to an abortion to keep a pregnant woman alive.
“There are other methods for preventing suicide, and Idaho’s ‘profound interest’ in preserving fetal life reasonably supports the use of those means over the termination of pregnancy,” she wrote.
The one dissenting judge in the stay, Judge Marsha Berzon, agreed with Seyb that abortions for health reasons are still constitutional.
Berzon said the majority in the Dobbs decision only touched on elective abortions and not the constitutional right to the procedure protecting a mother’s health.
“Life and health are part and parcel of the same, separate fundamental right in Roe and Casey: to obtain medically necessary abortion care. Unless and until the Supreme Court says otherwise, the degree to which that holding survives Dobbs is an open question,” she wrote.
Briefing in the full appeal will stretch into Feb. 2027, according to the opinion.
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