BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that Idaho cannot criminally charge doctors who perform abortions if it is necessary to protect the health of a pregnant individual or to prevent self-harm.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill determined that Idaho’s “Defense of Life Act” and “Fetal Heartbeat Act,” which together impose a nearly complete ban on abortion, infringe upon the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment. Doctors who defy these laws risk losing their medical license and could face up to five years in prison.
The laws do offer limited exceptions, such as when an abortion is necessary to save a pregnant woman’s life or in certain instances of rape or incest, provided a police report has been filed.
In his 81-page decision, Winmill emphasized that the case does not center on bodily autonomy or reproductive choice but rather on the “limit of the state’s power to make a woman suffer for the sake of an unborn child.”
The judge stated that the state cannot selectively determine which life-threatening conditions warrant an abortion.
“A pregnant woman’s health is not a state resource to be allocated at the legislature’s whim,” Winmill wrote.
Idaho’s attorney general plans to appeal
Dr. Stacy Seyb, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist from Boise who challenged the law in 2024, expressed that the ruling permits him to practice without fear of legal repercussions, allowing him to offer abortion services to patients with severe medical conditions within the state.
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador announced plans to appeal the decision, asserting his confidence that it will be overturned.
“The Supreme Court made clear that abortion policy belongs to the people and their elected representatives, not a single federal judge,” Labrador stated.
A doctor says the ban forced patients out of state
In the lawsuit, Seyb argued for the ability to provide abortions to patients facing significant health risks, including those at high risk of self-harm due to mental illnesses. He also contended that abortions should be permissible when a fetus is diagnosed with a fatal or severe condition, a miscarriage is inevitable, or in cases of multi-fetal pregnancies where reducing the number of fetuses could enhance the survival chances of the others.
Lawyers representing county prosecutors and the Idaho Attorney General contended that Seyb misinterpreted the state’s abortion ban, which they claim already allows most health-preserving abortions. However, Winmill noted a gap between life-saving abortions and those performed to prevent non-lethal harm, highlighting that Seyb has had to refer patients needing care in this gap to other states, including several with severe pregnancy complications who were flown to Utah for treatment.
Judge: Idaho can’t force women to bear permanent damage for a fetus
Winmill noted that just as the state cannot compel a mother to donate a kidney to her toddler, it cannot force a pregnant woman to endure serious harm for the sake of a fetus.
The judge also emphasized that mental illness should not be treated differently from other health conditions, stating that denying life-saving care for mental illness threats affronts human dignity.
Seyb pointed out that suicide and overdose are leading causes of death for pregnant and post-partum individuals in the U.S., and that from 2018 to 2021, mental health issues were the most common underlying cause of maternal death in Idaho, according to the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
In situations where the mother’s health risk is not elevated — such as when the fetus will not survive after birth or in multi-gestation pregnancies where aborting one fetus aids the others’ survival — Winmill found no fundamental right is at stake.
Winmill explained that in these scenarios, the law is rationally connected to the state’s interest in preventing abortions based on erroneous fetal diagnoses and upholding the dignity of individuals with significant disabilities.
Additionally, physicians might still encounter civil penalties for conducting abortions under another state law, which permits extended family members of an aborted fetus to sue the provider for a minimum of $20,000.
Abortion is on the ballot this fall in Idaho and other states
This fall, Idaho voters will vote on whether to repeal the state’s abortion ban. If the voter-led initiative passes, it would permit abortion until fetal viability, typically considered to be after 21 weeks.
In Virginia and Nevada, where abortion is legal through at least 24 weeks, voters will weigh state constitutional amendments to establish a right to abortion. Meanwhile, in Missouri, voters are being asked to overturn a constitutional amendment enacted in 2024 to reinstate an abortion ban.
