WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The Trump administration has ended a Biden-era attempt to force Idaho pro-life doctors to participate in so-called “emergency” abortions, but a federal judge is still attempting to delay the law’s enforcement.
Idaho’s Defense of Life Act bans all abortions except those deemed “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman,” while requiring him to use a method that “provided the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive, unless, in his good faith medical judgment, termination of the pregnancy in that manner would have posed a greater risk of the death of the pregnant woman.” (All pro-life laws allow non-abortive life-saving care in medical emergencies, and direct abortion is never medically necessary or justifiable.)
In August 2022, the Biden administration filed a lawsuit claiming that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment & Active Labor Act (EMTALA) overrides Idaho’s pro-life laws and requires emergency room doctors to commit abortions that would otherwise be illegal under state law. A lower court sided with the White House, prompting the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case and allow Idaho to continue to enforce its pro-life laws until it is resolved.
The state and its allies accused the administration of misreading and misapplying EMTALA in numerous ways, including that the law does not require procedures that violate state law, does not mandate services a particular hospital does not offer, and in fact requires hospitals to provide care for preborn children. Last June, however, the nation’s highest court decided 6-3 to dismiss the “improvidently granted” challenges and leave in place the lower ruling that the abortions be allowed to continue until the lower courts reached a decision.
On Wednesday, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America reported that the new Justice Department under President Donald Trump has moved to drop the case, ending the federal government’s efforts to invalidate the Defense of Life Act. The day before, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill issued a temporary order against enforcing the pro-life law, which is likely to be rendered moot soon with the side that wanted the stay changing its position.
“We thank President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and our allies in Idaho, particularly state Attorney General Raul Labrador,” responded SBA Director of Legal Affairs & Policy Counsel Katie Daniel. “We continue encouraging every pro-life state to adopt ‘Med Ed’ policies to make it crystal clear how doctors can use their medical judgment and comply with the law. Politically motivated lies and excuses are harming women and their babies and they need to stop.”
“As a board-certified ob-gyn for over 30 years, the administration’s change in stance is welcome news for both of my patients—a pregnant woman and her unborn child—whose lives are both prioritized by EMTALA,” added Ingrid Skop, M.D., FACOG, vice president and director of medical affairs for the Charlotte Lozier Institute. “This coercive effort by the prior administration to subvert existing laws to promote abortion was never necessary, as EMTALA has never been confusing for me or my obstetric peers. Every state pro-life law already permitted physicians to intervene immediately in a pregnancy emergency to protect a woman’s life. Although I do not perform elective abortions, I have always been able to provide quality care in obstetric emergencies, seeking to preserve the lives of both mother and child.”
Trump has taken a number of pro-life actions since returning to office, including pardoning peaceful pro-life advocates and closing multiple avenues for federal funding of the abortion industry. But he opposes further federal restrictions on abortion in favor of leaving the issue at the state level, supports embryo-destroying in vitro fertilization, and said on the campaign trail that he would not enforce federal law prohibiting abortion pills from being dispensed by mail. In what pro-lifers hope might signal the beginning of a reversal on that position, new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that Trump has asked him to study the dangers of abortifacient drugs.
