Justice Department Sues Idaho For Law Blocking Abortions In Rape Cases

Idaho is facing a lawsuit from the Justice Department after a new state law forbid victims of rape from having an abortion.

The Justice Department argued in court that the law violated a federal statute that says doctors must provide medically assisted treatments, including abortions, in emergency cases.

A previous Idaho law forces parents of an abortion seeker to show an official police report before having a medically administered abortion. But in Idaho, police reports don’t have to be released when the case is still under investigation.

The newly targeted law seeks to ban all abortions, with almost no exceptions.

A statement from the department wrote the lawsuit was aimed at a “criminal prohibition on providing abortions as applied to women suffering medical emergencies.”

The lawsuit said the Idaho law violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.

The move is a first of its kind in the DOJ’s efforts to preserve abortion rights within the United States after the Supreme Court struck down Roe V. Wade, which guaranteed the right to an abortion nationally.

President Joe Biden has vowed to protect abortion rights and recently signed an executive order allowing Medicaid to pay for out-of-state abortion procedures.

DOJ's new lawsuit against Idaho's abortion ban shows how the feds may be able to challenge other red state bans, due to zealous overreaching by GOP legislatures who make exceptions to them overly narrow, to frighten providers from risking breaking the law.https://t.co/sW1COXvbQj

— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) August 2, 2022