Idaho Judge Creates Fake Right to Abortion, Weakens State’s Abortion Ban

A federal judge on Thursday issued a ruling that blocks enforcement of Idaho’s near-total abortion ban in cases where a pregnancy supposedly poses severe risks to a woman’s health or creates a high risk of self-harm.

The irony is that killing babies in abortions is never a treatment for women’s health, abortions kill and injure women, and they are linked to subsequent mental health problems like suicide.

The decision will undoubtedly appeal but, if it stands, it would weaken the Idaho abortion ban to the point that it would be rendered useless and unenforceable. The decision pro-life advocates warn could significantly expand exceptions and undermine protections for unborn children.

HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation!

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, in an 81-page opinion, invents a fake right to abortion by claiming that the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment “establish a narrow but fundamental right to abortion when a pregnancy threatens the woman’s life or health.”

That is in direct contravention of the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court, which ruled there is no right to abortion.

Winmill blocked the Idaho attorney general and Ada County prosecutor from enforcing the state’s abortion laws in those circumstances. Idaho’s ban permits abortions only to prevent the death of the mother, to treat ectopic or molar pregnancies, and in first-trimester cases of rape or incest after a police report is filed.

Abortionists who do abortions outside those exceptions face two to five years in prison and possible loss of their medical license.

The challenge was brought by Stacy Seyb, a Boise doctor.

Under the ruling, abortions remain banned in Idaho for life-limiting fetal diagnoses or significant disabilities unless the mother’s health is also threatened.

Pro-life leaders condemned the decision as judicial overreach that dilutes the state’s strong protections for the unborn.

Blaine Conzatti, president of the Idaho Family Policy Center, which helped craft the state’s civil enforcement law, stressed that accountability remains.

“It’s important to recognize that the civil cause of action in the Heartbeat law still remains in effect — meaning that any physician who performs an abortion that is prohibited by the Heartbeat law can still be liable for breaking the law,” Conzatti said. “And doctors should take note: The IFPC Legal Center stands ready to hold doctors accountable who illegally perform abortions.”

The Heartbeat law allows relatives of an aborted unborn child to sue abortionists for a minimum of $20,000 and is unaffected by the ruling.

A voter initiative that would repeal Idaho’s abortion ban is set for the November ballot.

Pro-life advocates maintain that the state’s laws properly prioritize the lives of both mother and child while permitting narrow exceptions only for genuine threats to the mother’s life.