BOISE, Idaho (LifeSiteNews) — U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has narrowed his ruling against Idaho’s abortion ban so that it only empowers the specific abortionist who brought the suit to circumvent it, allowing the state to continue enforcing the pro-life law against everyone else.
Most abortions are illegal throughout pregnancy in Idaho, with a trigger ban starting at conception and civil liability law starting at six weeks. Exceptions are permitted for rape, incest, or when allegedly necessary to save a mother’s life. In January 2023, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld the bans and ruled that the Idaho Constitution does not contain a “right” to abortion.
Earlier this month, Winmill ruled in favor of a 2024 suit brought by Boise physician Stacy Seyb, declaring a “narrow but fundamental right to abortion when a pregnancy threatens the woman’s life or health.” Idaho’s law makes exceptions to “prevent the death of the pregnant woman,” but not for “health,” a standard abortionists are notorious for abusing by defining health so broadly as to include nearly any consideration.
Idaho Republican Attorney General Raúl Labrador subsequently announced that he has filed a notice of appeal with the Ninth Circuit, plus an emergency motion demanding the state be allowed to enforce the law in full while the case proceeds.
In response, Winmill has now narrowed the ruling so that it only applies to the specific party to the dispute, meaning that Seyb is free to commit abortions as long as he devises a “physical or mental health” justification, but no other Idaho abortionist can – at least until a potential final ruling in the case that strikes down the law.
An “injunction limited to Dr. Seyb will suffice to address the alleged harm” while the case proceeds, Winmill agreed.
“While we are disappointed in the ruling, it is only one step in the litigation,” responded Tanya Pellegrini, co-director of litigation at the Lawyering Project, which is representing Seyb. “We will continue to stand with providers and their patients to ensure it is safe to be pregnant in Idaho.”
Meanwhile, pro-abortion activists in the Gem State are circulating a ballot initiative to enact a new statute, the “Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act” (RFPA), that would codify a “right to reproductive freedom and privacy, which is the right to make personal decisions about [so-called] reproductive health care that directly impact the person’s own body,” expressly including abortion.
The initiative, which will appear on the ballot this fall, will only require a majority vote to be ratified. “Pro-life groups have fundraised over $1.6 million for the fight, and several groups are already pounding the pavement; the abortion activists behind Proposition 1 are close behind with $1.1 million raised thus far, including donations from actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest,” LifeSiteNews columnist Jonathon Van Maren wrote.
Thirteen states ban most abortions starting at conception; another five ban it once a fetal heartbeat can be detected (around six weeks), with additional states imposing a range of later restrictions.
But the abortion lobby works feverishly to preserve abortion “access” via deregulated interstate distribution of abortion pills, legal protection and financial support of interstate abortion travel, constructing new abortion facilities near borders shared by pro-life and pro-abortion states, making liberal states havens for those who want to evade or violate the laws of more pro-life neighbors, and embedding abortion “rights” in state constitutions, whether via activist lawsuits or state constitutional amendments.