SEATTLE – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled Friday that the state of Idaho may continue to enforce its pro-life laws to protect unborn children and their mothers while Idaho’s appeal proceeds.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, together with Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, had asked the court to allow the state to protect unborn babies and mothers after an Idaho district court became the first court in the nation to “find” a new federal constitutional right to abortion post-Dobbs.
“States have the strongest possible interest in protecting the most fundamental of our human rights—the right to life,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch. “Nothing in the federal Constitution grants a right to take innocent, unborn life. We’re pleased the court respected Idahoans’ desire to protect life, which Attorney General Labrador has fought so courageously to defend.”
“I am thrilled that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled to prevent the enforcement of the district court’s injunction against Idaho’s Defense of Life Act during the appeal process, and has found that we have a strong likelihood of succeeding in that appeal,” Labrador added. “Idaho’s unwavering protection for unborn children and their mothers will continue as intended.”
“The Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization plowed the same ground and held that ‘the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion,’” the court wrote in its opinion in Seyb v. Labrador.
Just four years after the U.S. Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion to the states, the district court ruled that Idaho can’t enforce its democratically enacted laws to protect unborn babies and their mothers. The district court’s ruling blows a hole in Idaho’s protection for life by allowing abortion doctors to decide—in their personal judgment—what maternal mental and physical health risks are sufficient to terminate a baby. The district court even intimated that risk of a C-section would justify an abortion. But, as the 9th Circuit recognized, that undermines Idaho’s “profound” interest in protecting unborn life, especially given the many effective treatments for mental health issues during pregnancy.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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