Health care providers in Idaho on Wednesday sued the state’s attorney general after he wrote in a legal opinion that the state’s abortion ban prohibits medical providers from referring patients out-of-state for abortion services.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, a Republican, said in a two-page letter last week that the state’s near-total abortion ban “prohibits an Idaho medical provider from either referring a woman across state lines to access abortion services or prescribing abortion pills for the woman to pick up across state lines.” The letter was sent to state GOP Rep. Brent Crane in response to questions he raised to the attorney general about how far-reaching the ban is, according to the document.
After the Supreme Court gave states the green light last year to enact restrictions on abortion within their borders, opponents of the procedure began turning their attention to efforts to restrict people from obtaining an abortion in states where it’s still legal. In addition to Labrador’s new guidance, Idaho’s governor approved a law Wednesday limiting minors’ ability to travel out-of-state for an abortion.
The new lawsuit was brought against Labrador and several other state officials by Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, and two doctors in Idaho who as a result of Labrador’s letter, “have ceased having comprehensive conversations with their patients about out-of-state abortion options,” including referring them to providers outside of Idaho, according to the complaint.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue in the lawsuit that Labrador’s interpretation of the law runs afoul of several constitutional protections, including the First Amendment’s free speech guarantees.
“Labrador’s interpretation is unprecedented and amounts to a clear threat that Idaho will seek to punish individuals…
Read the full article here