By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and REBECCA BOONE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is expected to drop a federal lawsuit pushing for emergency abortions in Idaho, which has a strict ban on the procedure, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
The Justice Department outlined its plans to move for dismissal of the lawsuit originally filed by the Biden administration, according to the court papers filed by St. Luke’s Health System, the state’s largest hospital network. It could move to drop the case as soon as Wednesday, it said, citing an email from a Justice Department attorney.
Dropping the case would represent a dramatic reversal from the previous administration, in a state with one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws.
In his first term, Republican President Donald Trump appointed many of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturned the nationwide right to abortion in 2022 and has said the issue should be left to the states.
St. Luke’s filing came as it seeks a court order allowing doctors to continue providing abortions in emergency situations as they deem necessary. The hospital has previously said Idaho’s abortion ban required pregnant women to be flown out of state for emergency care.
A Justice Department spokesperson and Idaho officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit started when the Biden administration sued Idaho over its ban that went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion.
The Biden administration argued that federal health care law required doctors to perform abortions in emergency situations presenting serious risks to a patient’s health or life, even if they could run afoul of the state’s abortion ban.
Idaho has pushed back, saying that its state law does allow for abortions in life-threatening situations and that the Democratic administration was trying to improperly expand its exceptions.
The Supreme Court stepped into the Idaho case last year and ultimately handed down a narrow ruling that allowed hospitals to continue performing abortions in emergencies.
The high court did not, however, resolve key legal questions in the case, and it went before the 9th circuit court of appeals in December. The appeals court has not yet ruled.
About 50,000 people in the U.S. develop life-threatening pregnancy complications each year, including major blood loss, sepsis or the loss of reproductive organs. In rare cases, doctors might need to terminate a pregnancy to protect the health of the pregnant person, especially in cases where there is no chance for a fetus to survive.
Before the court blocked the state from enforcing the ban in health-threatening emergencies, some Idaho doctors reported that pregnant women were facing delays in care and in some cases being flown to out-of-state hospitals for treatment they would have previously been able to get at home.
Most Republican-controlled states have started enforcing new bans or restrictions since 2022. Currently, 12 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and four have bans that kick in at or about six weeks into pregnancy — often before women realize they’re pregnant.
Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report. Boone reported from Seattle.
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