BOISE, Idaho — The Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit against the State of Idaho Monday on behalf of four women and two doctors who argue patients in need of an abortion to treat an unsafe pregnancy have been harmed by the states near total abortion ban.
The Idaho Academy of Family Physician is also listed as a plaintiff on the lawsuit on behalf of their members and patients.
Idaho banned most abortion after the United States Supreme Court restored the right to regulate abortion back to each individual state; exceptions exist for rape with a police report, incest, or a doctor’s medical decision to "prevent the death of the pregnant woman."
Doctors have repeatedly told KTVB the laws language is too vague; they do not know how close a patient must be to 'death' for an abortion to be legal. Practicing medicine is often not black and white as written in the law, the lawsuit argued.
Doctors violating Idaho's abortion ban are subject to lose their medical license, go to jail for up to 5 years, and be civilly liable for at least $20,000.
"It is an impossible ask of physicians," Plaintiff Dr. Emily Corrigan said. "In my decade of medical training, I was never taught how to sort out vague laws that were not written using medical terminology."
The United States Supreme Court upheld Idaho's abortion laws in January of 2023; however, this lawsuit is not aiming to strike down the state's law. The lawsuit wants the court to draw a clear line between a doctor’s best medical judgement, and a felony.
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