Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador is looking to the Supreme Court to stand by Idaho's strict abortion laws and prevent challenges from the Biden Administration.
The Office of the Idaho Attorney General filed their opening brief on Feb. 20, asking the Supreme Court to protect Idaho's Defense of Life Act from the federal government.
The Defense of Life Act prevents doctors in the state from performing abortions unless necessary to save the life of the mother or in cases of incest or rape.
The case follows a lawsuit from August of 2022 when the Federal Government argued it could use the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) and ignore Idaho’s protections for life, allowing emergency room doctors to perform abortions that are otherwise unlawful in Idaho.
At the time the Court issued a stay, allowing Idaho to continue with the implementation of Idaho's abortion laws.
The case presented by Attorney General Labrador argues that there is no conflict between the EMTALA and Idaho's existing laws and that the saving of lives does not require abortion.
“Idaho’s law is perfectly consistent with EMTALA, which provides explicit protections for ‘unborn children’ in four separate places," said Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador. "The notion that EMTALA requires doctors to perform abortions is absurd. We are asking the Supreme Court to end the administration’s unlawful overreach and to respect the people of Idaho’s decision to protect life.”
