Lawsuit over Idaho abortion access went to Supreme Court

U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill granted a motion for a temporary restraining order from St. Luke’s Health System to keep in place an injunction allowing health care professionals to perform abortions as emergency health care even if the Department of Justice withdraws its case against Idaho. The restraining order will remain in effect until the judge issues a decision on an injunction in the case St. Luke’s brought against the state of Idaho over the same issue.

The Department of Justice plans to drop a lawsuit about Idaho abortion restrictions that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a Tuesday filing in a separate case.

Counsel for the United States told attorneys for St. Luke’s Health System, which is also suing Idaho over abortion restrictions, in an email Monday that the DOJ wants to dismiss its yearslong case over emergency abortion access. An attorney for St. Luke’s cited the email in a filing in its case Tuesday calling for a restraining order to prevent Idaho’s abortion ban from fully taking effect if the DOJ withdraws its case.

According to the email, the DOJ could move to dismiss the case as early as Wednesday. No motions have been filed since early February.

Anti-abortion rights advocates and abortion access advocates alike have wondered whether President Donald Trump would drop the ongoing lawsuit, which was in front of a panel of 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a firm ruling in June 2024.

The Idaho Statesman contacted Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s Office for comment.

The lawsuit was filed in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, which said Idaho’s newly enacted abortion ban prevented pregnant patients from receiving abortions that could be necessary to stabilize an emergency health condition. The lawsuit said Idaho’s ban, which has a few narrow exceptions, does not give health care providers the ability to perform abortions when a patient’s health — but not their life — is at risk.

Health care providers can face prison time and loss of their medical license if they’re found guilty of performing an illegal abortion.

According to the lawsuit, failing to provide a patient with stabilizing medical care during an emergency is a violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act — a federal law created in the 1980s that requires any hospital that accepts federal Medicare and Medicaid funds to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay.

Idaho officials have said the abortion ban’s exception to prevent death is sufficient for any instance that doctors have presented. Labrador said outside the U.S. Supreme Court following oral arguments in April 2024 that he doubted doctors’ accounts of patients being airlifted when an injunction on the ban was lifted for several months.

What happens next with emergency abortion access?

The Supreme Court’s ruling reinstated an injunction — which has been lifted and reinstated multiple times — that allows Idaho physicians to perform abortions as emergency care. If the case is withdrawn, the injunction will go away.

St. Luke’s cited that as a concern when it sued Idaho over EMTALA compliance in January. The health system had filed “friend of the court” briefs in the DOJ case and was outspoken about the impact on patients and the need to transport some out of state when the injunction was lifted.

Counsel for St. Luke’s on Tuesday filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to keep the injunction in place if the DOJ withdraws its case this week. The motion was granted.

“Even a short period without an injunction would require Idaho hospitals to train their staff about the change in legal obligations, distracting them from providing medical care to their patients,” the St. Luke’s filing said, “and would once again require them to airlift patients out of state should a medical emergency arise so that those patients can consider the full spectrum of medically indicated care, including termination of pregnancy.”

Attorneys for St. Luke’s and for the state will meet in court Wednesday, when St. Luke’s is expected to argue for its own injunction, and the state for the case to be dismissed.