(FiveNation.com)- Idaho was one of the many conservative-leaning states that had a “trigger” law in place that was set to automatically go into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court removed federal protections for abortion by overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
But, a federal judge in the state this week ultimately ruled the trigger measure in Idaho violates federal law.
Oral arguments in the case were heard by U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill on Monday. Two days after those arguments, the judge blocked the state from enforcing the abortion ban they were seeking.
According to the trigger law, abortions would only be legal if a pregnant woman was experiencing complications with the pregnancy that would require her to undergo emergency care to save her life.
While the law was blocked for now, it may soon go to a higher court. This is especially true, as a Texas judge recently ruled the opposite way in a similar issue in that state.
Both lawsuits were filed by the Biden administration as an attempt to protect a woman’s right to get an abortion across the country, even after federal protections are now gone.
If the two separate rulings are both upheld at the appeals level, the Supreme Court could ultimately be forced to take up the issue of abortion once again.
After the high court overturned the Roe ruling earlier this summer, many conservative states were expected to significantly limit or try to ban abortion altogether. Texas, Idaho and 11 other states adopted what are being called “trigger” laws, which went into effect following the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Idaho’s Republican Governor Brad Little signed his state’s trigger ban back on March 23. It banned nearly every abortion from being performed in the state, except in the case where the mother’s life was in jeopardy.
It also included criminal penalties that would be issued to any doctor that performed an abortion or prescribed a drug that would cause abortion to happen. They would also be exposed to penalties in civil court.
The law was upheld by the state Supreme Court on August 12 when they denied a stay request that was made by many groups, including Planned Parenthood.
The Department of Justice, though, filed a lawsuit that claimed Idaho’s law was in violation of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. That law requires all health-care providers who accept funds from Medicare to “provide stabilizing” care to their patients when a medical emergency happens.
When the lawsuit was filed on August 2, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, issued a statement that read:
“Federal law is clear: Patients have the right to stabilizing hospital emergency room care no matter where they live. Women should not have to be near death to get care. The Department of Health and Human Services will continue its work with the Department of Justice to enforce federal law protecting access to health care, including abortions.”
In Idaho alone, 43 hospitals receive payments from Medicare.
