Idaho Abortion Laws Don't Get No Respect, I'm Tellin' Ya, No Respect At All
Idaho Abortion Laws Don't Get No Respect, I'm Tellin' Ya, No Respect At All
Thank goodness.
A federal judge has granted an injunction against part of Idaho’s complete abortion ban, ruling that Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador can’t prosecute providers in Idaho for referring Idaho patients to out of state providers who can legally help them. Idaho prohibits virtually all abortions, with strict exceptions for rape or incest (a police report must be filed) and one of those vague exceptions for when the patient’s life is in danger.
As the AP notes, Idaho’s statute
also makes it unlawful for health care professionals to assist in the provision or attempted provision of one, with the penalty being the suspension or loss of their medical license.
The court ruling stems from a letter Labrador wrote to a conservative Idaho legislator back in March, in which he said referring a patient to get a legal abortion in another state would indeed count as assisting in an abortion, or an attempted one, so any Idaho provider doing that would be putting their medical license in jeopardy.
Planned Parenthood and several Idaho medical providers sued in federal court, arguing that Labrador’s reading of the statute would stomp all over their free speech rights. The lawsuit noted that there are no such restrictions on referring patients out of state for other treatments, although who’s to say that Labrador wouldn’t happily even things out by banning out of state referrals for all medical treatment?
US District Judge B. Lynn Winmill agreed in his ruling Monday that this was very much a First Amendment matter — unlike, to take the first example that comes to mind, organizing a criminal conspiracy to overthrow an election.
Medical professionals “will be forced to choose between facing criminal penalties themselves and offering referrals and information about legal out-of-state medicinal services to their patients,” [Winmill wrote.] “Simply put, their speech will be chilled.”
In an odd twist, the AP notes that Winmill’s order only blocks the Idaho Attorney General’s office from enforcing Labrador’s interpretation of the law, but
For technical and procedural reasons, he did not block the state boards of medicine and nursing from suspending the licenses of providers who refer patients for abortions out of state or who prescribe abortion drugs for patients to pick up in another state.
That may not make any difference though, since as ACLU of Idaho attorney Colleen Smith explained, the same rationale would apply to the boards if they tried anything like that. And as the AP adds, neither board has indicated they plan to suspend providers’ licenses as Labrador suggested.
Was there whining from the pro-forced-birth Right, including Labrador’s office? Why yes, yes there was. A (mandatory) “pregnancy center” in Boise sniffed that the decision was a grave injustice to the state Lege, which “built a wall of protection around women and their preborn children through life-affirming legislation,” and we really love that perverse inversion of Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state," so well done.
Labrador’s comms director Beth Cahill explained that Labrador had already withdrawn the letter after the suit was filed, so Judge Winmill was super rude ruling on it, and also Winmill was appointed by Bill Clinton, so what do you expect?
In his 28-year career you’d be hard-pressed to find a time when Judge Winmill has ruled against Planned Parenthood, so his decision is not surprising,” Cahill said. “Judge Winmill wants to restrain a power we don’t possess. We strongly disagree with his order.”
She’s no Christina Pushaw, but she tries.
Winmill noted in his order that Labrador had withdrawn the opinion, but hadn’t actually disavowed the reasoning, which could still cause some fuckery, so yeah, let’s make sure nobody gets any ideas about trying to charge providers for a referral out of state, ‘kay?
In related news, a separate lawsuit against Idaho’s insane “abortion trafficking” law got a boost yesterday as 20 state attorneys general filed an amicus brief in the case, accusing the Gem State of unconstitutionally restricting interstate travel.
The law prohibits any adult other than a parent from helping a pregnant minor get an abortion or obtain abortion pills by mail. The brief, led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, says the Idaho law
“places Idahoan youth in grave danger, and unlawfully infringes on every person’s First Amendment rights to free speech and to travel freely between states’ borders. As I said in my April 4 letter to Gov. Little when he signed this repugnant law, we will continue to harbor and comfort all Idahoans who seek health care services that are denied to them in Idaho.”
And because Idaho’s dumb law makes it a felony for providers in other states to perform abortions on a minor traveling from Idaho, the brief points out that, no, states can’t make laws restricting legal healthcare in other states, you dipshits.
Ferguson also noted that, in case Idaho leaders hadn’t noticed, Idaho’s abortion ban is not especially popular with Idaho women, who are lighting out for the Washington Territory and other nearby free states to escape Gilead on the Snake River.
Washington clinics reported an unprecedented 75% increase in Idaho patients between January 2022 and early 2023. For example, Planned Parenthood’s clinic in Pullman reported that 62% of its patients were from Idaho in June 2022 — the same month the U.S. Supreme Court released its decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The next month, Idahoans made up nearly 80% of its patients. Pullman is just eight miles from the Idaho border.
Other states bordering Idaho have seen similar increases in Idaho patients.
As of yet, Idaho Gov. Brad Little has not erected checkpoints, razor wire, or floating buoys to dissuade Idahoans from traveling to free states for health care.
[AP / Boise State Public Radio / Office of the Attorney General of Washington]
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Sadly, yes. We seem to have the same writing team this season as the guys in the 13th century who thought the Black Death and invasion by the Golden Horde would keep the audience on the edges of their seats.
I'm not the only one who saw that as Windmill every single time, right?