Idaho AG celebrates end of 'meddlesome' emergency abortion lawsuit as case is dropped

Nicole Blanchard, The Idaho Statesman on Mar 5, 2025

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BOISE, Idaho — The Department of Justice, the State of Idaho and the Idaho Legislature on Wednesday filed a document together announcing the dismissal of a lawsuit over emergency access to abortion after more than two years of legal debate, including arguments in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office announced the update Wednesday morning with a statement from Labrador that said “meddlesome DOJ litigation” would no longer prevent Idaho from enforcing its near-total abortion ban.

The case, which then-president Joe Biden’s DOJ filed in 2022, alleged Idaho violated the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, with its strict abortion restrictions. The law requires hospitals that receive federal Medicare and Medicaid funds to stabilize patients experiencing medical emergencies.

“It has been our position from the beginning that there is no conflict between EMTALA and Idaho’s Defense of Life Act,” Labrador said in his statement.

Health care experts have largely disagreed. Idaho’s abortion laws ban the procedure entirely, except in a few instances, including when “necessary to prevent the death” of a pregnant woman.

Physicians, St. Luke’s and multiple health organizations filed “friend of the court” briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court to argue that doctors could not safely follow their medical training or provide proper medical care while trying to differentiate between a condition that threatened a patient’s life or only their health.

When the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction on Idaho’s abortion law in early 2024, St. Luke’s said it had to airlift multiple pregnant patients out-of-state during medical emergencies to allow them the full range of appropriate medical care. Labrador questioned those statements outside of the court in Washington, D.C., in April 2024.

Idaho physicians on Wednesday spoke out against the dismissal and said it’s a step in the wrong direction for patients.

“All Americans, including those in Idaho, deserve better than extremist policies that make standard medical care illegal,” said Dr. Caitlin Gustafson, a family physician and president of the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare Foundation, in a news release.

Dr. Becky Uranga, who last year shared the challenges of treating patients while the EMTALA injunction was lifted, said the past several months under the U.S. Supreme Court’s reinstated injunction restored some sanity. The dismissal of the DOJ’s lawsuit “brings me back to a frightening space again,” Uranga said.

“The emergency room should be a place that we’re able to stabilize people,” said Uranga, a Treasure Valley OB-GYN, in a phone interview with the Idaho Statesman.

Dismissal confirmed concerns, Tuesday court filing

After President Donald Trump was elected in November 2024, questions arose around whether his Justice Department would continue the the case. The U.S. Supreme Court in June 2024 remanded it back to a panel of 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges.

Apparent confirmation of the Trump administration’s plans to withdraw the case came Tuesday. St. Luke’s Health System, which sued Idaho over similar EMTALA claims in January and cited fears the DOJ case would be pulled, filed a temporary restraining order in District Court that included an email from a DOJ official who said the agency planned to end the case as early as Wednesday.

Idaho District Judge B. Lynn Winmill approved the temporary restraining order Tuesday afternoon. St. Luke’s and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office were in court Wednesday to argue over whether to allow emergency abortions as the case progresses — or if the case progresses, as the state is arguing to dismiss the lawsuit.

Idaho Democrats criticized the dismissal. In a statement, Lauren Necochea said Idaho women are being forced to flee the state for reproductive health care.

“This lawsuit was a critical safeguard to protect access to emergency medical care that is supposed to be guaranteed under federal law,” Necochea said. “Idaho’s Republican leaders knowingly allowed women to suffer, and by abandoning this case, the Trump administration is proving it will do nothing to stop it.”

Planned Parenthood Great Northwest Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, which has been a top critic of Idaho’s abortion laws, also spoke out on the dismissal and called it “a cruel and callous act that could cost pregnant Idahoans their lives.”

Uranga said starting fresh on a fight for emergency abortion access feels a bit like if a second global COVID shutdown happened — she feels more equipped to handle the issue.

“I feel ready, but I also feel like this is not OK,” Uranga said. “We’ve got to keep fighting this, because this is not a safe thing.”

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