Idaho Supreme Court upholds state laws restricting abortion

The Idaho Supreme Court upheld several state laws restricting abortion access on Thursday, ruling that the state’s constitution does not implicitly grant a right to the procedure.

In a 3-2 decision, the court dismissed the lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood over three Idaho abortion laws — a near-total abortion ban passed by the state legislature in 2020, a 2021 prohibition on abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected and a law passed in 2022 that allows potential family members of the fetus to sue for damages.

In Thursday’s decision, the Idaho Supreme Court echoed the U.S. Supreme Court’s reasoning for overturning Roe v. Wade last June, finding that the right to an abortion is not “deeply rooted” in the state’s traditions and history.

“When we apply that test to this dispute, there simply is no support for a conclusion that a right to abortion was ‘deeply rooted’ at the time the Inalienable Rights Clause was adopted,” Justice Robyn Brody wrote in the majority opinion.

However, Brody noted that the state Supreme Court’s ruling does not prevent Idaho voters from “answering the deeply moral and political question of abortion at the polls.”

“For example, if the people of Idaho are dissatisfied with these new laws, they can elect new legislators,” she added. “Additionally, the Idaho Constitution is not immutable.”

Rebecca Gibron, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai‘i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, called the ruling a “dark day for the state of Idaho.”

“But our fight is far from over,” she added in a statement. “Planned Parenthood will never back down. We will keep fighting with everything we’ve got to restore Idahoans’ right to control our bodies and our lives.”