Federal Judge Blocks Idaho from Prosecuting Doctors Who Provide Health-Saving Abortions

A federal judge has ruled that the state of Idaho must allow abortions when the pregnant person’s health and life are at risk. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled Idaho state officials cannot prosecute physicians who perform abortions under these circumstances, saying Idaho’s near-total abortion ban violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment. Physicians faced up to five years in prison if found in violation of the ban. In his ruling, Judge Winmill wrote, “It is about self-preservation and the limit of the state’s power to make a woman suffer for the sake of an unborn child. … A pregnant woman’s health is not a state resource to be allocated at the legislature’s whim.” www.democracynow.org