The court on Friday accepted a motion for reconsideration and said that “the implementation of bill 1309 of the Senate is suspended pending further action by this Court.” Last month, Idaho became the first state to follow Texas’ controversial statutes that allow individuals to enforce abortion restrictions by filing lawsuits. Like Texas law, the Idaho measure bans abortions after detecting fetal heart activity – a point about six weeks after pregnancy, when many women do not yet know they are pregnant. Also, like Texas, Idaho law requires individuals to file lawsuits against health professionals who have performed prohibited procedures. Specifically, Idaho law states that the fetus’s father, as well as his or her wife’s family, can sue for at least $ 20,000. It provides exceptions for rape and incest cases – provided the abortion applicant reports the crime to law enforcement and provides documentation of this report to the abortion clinic – and in cases of “medical emergency”. The lawsuit was filed by Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, and Caitlin Gustafson, a doctor in Idaho. They claim that the six-week ban violates the Idaho Constitution, the ban on “special” laws, the provisions of his right to privacy, the guarantees of due process and the equal protection clause. . “Patients across Idaho can breathe a sigh of relief tonight,” said Rebecca Gibron, the Planned Parenthood Group’s interim CEO. “We are excited that abortions will remain accessible to the state for the time being, but our struggle to ensure that Idaho residents have full access to their constitutionally protected rights is not over,” Gibron said. The plaintiffs cited estimates by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office and Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little, who suggested the law could be considered unconstitutional. Although he signed the bill last week, Little expressed concern that “the new enforcement mechanism will soon prove unconstitutional and unwise.” “Replacing individuals for imposing heavy fines for exercising an unfavorable but recognized constitutional right to avoid judicial review undermines our constitutional form of government and undermines our collective freedoms,” Little said in a statement accompanying the signing. CNN contacted the governor’s office for comment. Idaho providers are focusing their fight on the state Supreme Court after efforts to block the Texas extradition, which took effect in September, have failed in federal courts. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected requests to repeal Texas law. Abortion patients in Texas are now seeking treatment at out-of-state clinics and the impact would be similar in Idaho, legal advocates have warned, if state law goes into effect. This story has been updated with additional details.
