Appeals Court Rules Idaho Can Enforce Abortion Ban, Save Babies

A divided federal appeals court ruled Friday that Idaho can fully enforce its near-total abortion ban.

The ruled paused a lower-court order that had allowed one abortionist to kill babies in additional health-related circumstances and restoring the state’s ability to protect unborn children.

In a 2-1 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill’s injunction in the case involving abortionist Stacy Seyb. The majority found that Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador and Ada County Prosecuting Attorney Jan Bennetts showed a strong likelihood of success on appeal and would suffer irreparable harm if the injunction remained in effect.

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“The Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization plowed the same ground and held that ‘the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion,’” the court wrote in its opinion in Seyb v. Labrador.

The order pauses the lower court’s ruling that had shielded Seyb from prosecution for abortions he determined were needed even though killing babies does not protect women’s health.

The majority relied on the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and returned the issue to the states and their elected representatives.

The court noted Idaho’s “profound interest” in preserving fetal life and its preference, under state law, for “live childbirth over abortion” by all legal means. It said that interest is even stronger in cases involving suicide risk, because other methods exist to prevent suicide.

Judge Marsha Berzon dissented.

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, together with Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, had asked the court to allow the state to protect unborn babies and mothers after an Idaho district court became the first court in the nation to “find” a new federal constitutional right to abortion post-Dobbs.

“States have the strongest possible interest in protecting the most fundamental of our human rights—the right to life,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch. “Nothing in the federal Constitution grants a right to take innocent, unborn life. We’re pleased the court respected Idahoans’ desire to protect life, which Attorney General Labrador has fought so courageously to defend.”

“I am thrilled that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with my defense of Idaho’s pro-life laws and ruled to stay the district court’s injunction,” Labrador added. “Idaho’s law will remain in full effect during the appeal process.  Idaho’s unwavering protection for unborn children and their mothers will continue as intended.”

Idaho’s Defense of Life Act and related statutes generally ban abortion except to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or in cases of rape or incest in the first trimester when a police report has been filed. Officials have said doctors may already exercise good-faith medical judgment to save a mother’s life without waiting until death is imminent.

Winmill ruled in August after a bench trial that the lack of broader health exceptions violated the Constitution. He later narrowed his own injunction so that it applied only to Seyb rather than all Idaho physicians.

The 9th Circuit issued a temporary stay in early September and heard arguments Sept. 22 before issuing Friday’s full stay pending the appeal.

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has said a federal judge “replaced Idaho’s law with his own abortion standard, broad enough to treat even the ordinary risks of a C-section as justification for an abortion.”

He added that “Dobbs made clear that abortion policy belongs to the people and their elected state representatives, not the judiciary. We have appealed to the Ninth Circuit, and we will fight until this ruling is reversed and Idaho’s law is restored.”

After the September temporary stay, Labrador said: “Idaho can enforce the law again while this case is heard, which means unborn children and their mothers in our state are protected under Idaho law and doctors can continue making the good-faith judgments the law has always allowed. The Supreme Court settled in Dobbs that this decision belongs to the people of Idaho and their elected representatives. We will continue to defend it as far as needed.”

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel John Bursch, working with Labrador’s office, said of the earlier stay: “States have the strongest possible interest in protecting the most fundamental of our human rights—the right to life. Nothing in the federal Constitution grants a right to take innocent, unborn life. We’re pleased the court is respecting Idahoans’ desire to protect life, which Attorney General Labrador has fought so courageously to defend.”