BOISE, Idaho — New legal action aims to restore abortion access in Idaho.
The Center for Reproductive Rights filed complaints in Idaho, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, where women have been denied abortions despite serious medical concerns relating to the health of the fetus and/or the mother. The three states are among 14 that have implemented near-total abortion bans since the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
The Idaho plaintiffs include four women who were denied abortions in Idaho, two doctors who provide medical care to pregnant patients in Idaho, and the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians.
The Idaho complaint states, "Idaho’s abortion bans have sown confusion, fear, and chaos among the medical community, resulting in grave harm to pregnant patients whose health and safety hang in the balance across the state."
In a Tuesday press conference, Idaho and Tennessee plaintiffs discussed the need for clarity in the legal language, asking state courts to clarify what circumstances qualify under the “medical emergency” exceptions in the states’ abortion bans.
Neither of the two states allow exemptions when the fetus is diagnosed with a fatal medical condition.
Dr. Emily Corrigan routinely treats pregnancy complications in Boise and says the last year has been the most difficult in her career because of the new abortion bans.
"There is still widespread confusion in which circumstances abortion care is legal, even one year later," Dr. Corrigan said. "Any doctor found to have broken these laws is subject to two to five years in prison, the loss of their medical license, and civil fines amounting to at least $20,000 for each violation."
In Idaho, it comes down to determining if a mother's life is truly at risk, with doctors unable to act despite concerns for their patient's health. One Oklahoma plaintiff said she was told to wait in the hospital parking lot until her condition worsened enough to be considered life-threatening.
Where current Idaho law allows an exception to prevent a pregnant person's death, the new lawsuit seeks to change the language to allow doctors to act whenever their patient's health is at risk, including their fertility.
"In my decade of medical training, I was never taught how to sort out vague laws that were not written using medical terminology," Dr. Corrigan explained.
Plaintiff Jennifer Adkins, an Idaho mother, says she and her husband learned at her 12-week ultrasound appointment that their baby was not expected to survive.
"It's hard to imagine, but the news got worse from there," Adkins said. "We were told that if I intended to carry my pregnancy to term, I was likely to miscarry and that the longer the pregnancy progressed, the greater the chance my own health would be in serious jeopardy."
Adkins traveled to Oregon to receive an abortion and says she joined the lawsuit to bring attention to the serious situations these laws are putting Idaho families in.
"People in Idaho must be able to make informed decisions with their doctors without the intrusion of politics," Adkins said. "What I needed was an abortion; a safe and standard medical procedure that is often required to save lives and keep families intact."
You can read the Idaho lawsuit in its entirety here.
