Federal judge appears likely to block restrictive Idaho abortion law
A federal judge suggested Monday that he's likely to grant the Justice Department’s request to temporarily block an Idaho abortion law that is set to go into
A federal judge suggested Monday that he's likely to grant the Justice Department’s request to temporarily block an Idaho abortion law that is set to go into effect this week.
Judge B. Lynn Winmill heard arguments on the DOJ’s request for a preliminary injunction Monday and said he would issue a written order no later than Wednesday. The Idaho law, a near total ban on abortion in the state, is set to take effect on Thursday.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the lawsuit against Idaho at the beginning of August, saying that the state’s law conflicted with a federal statute known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. That law requires doctors to provide the emergency medical treatment necessary to stabilize anyone who comes into an emergency room. “This includes abortion, when that is the necessary treatment,” Garland said at the time.
The lawsuit was the Biden administration’s first legal action to protect abortion access since June's Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, which reversed the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade that held there was a constitutional right to abortion.
Garland announces Justice Department lawsuit challenging Idaho abortion lawAug. 2, 202203:40At the start of Monday’s arguments, Winmill, who was nominated to the bench in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, made it clear that the issue in the case is about a potential conflict between a state and a federal law, not about the legality of abortion.
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