A US federal judge on Wednesday blocked part of the law banning nearly all abortions in Idaho (Northwest), a victory for the Biden administration.
• Read also: Abortion as an issue at the ballot box
• Read also: A 16-year-old Florida woman is too immature to decide to have an abortion, says court
• Read also: Accused because of the Prophet of helping her daughter to have an abortion
The state will not be able to prosecute doctors who voluntarily terminate a pregnancy (abortion) to protect a woman’s health, Judge B. Lynne Winmel.
He added that this suspension will continue until the end of legal proceedings challenging the abortion ban.
Idaho, a rural and conservative state in the American West, was among the first states to adopt a new law after the US Supreme Court flip-flopped over the right to abortion in late June.
The text, which remains highly restrictive, will go into effect on Thursday.
Attorney General Merrick Garland had asked the court to block the law, saying it was in violation of the federal law on medical emergencies because it had not made an exception in the event of a “grave risk to the health” of a pregnant woman and authorized legal action against it. the doctors.
Judge B. Lynn Wenmel in his judgment that this case “does not address the old constitutional right to abortion.”
“This court does not have to decide on this larger and deeper question,” he wrote.
But the court is required to resolve a more modest issue, which is whether Idaho’s abortion law conflicts with a small but important piece of federal legislation. It is,” continued Mr. Winmel.
Even if it is limited to one point, the decision constitutes a success – albeit relative – for the Joe Biden administration.
Secretary Merrick Garland said in a statement Wednesday that she “helps ensure that women in Idaho have access to the emergency medical care they are entitled to under federal law.”
Dozens of states have already banned abortions on their soil, and in the end, half of the 50 states should do so.
