Trump administration signals it will let Idaho enforce its restrictive abortion ban

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration signaled Tuesday it will let Idaho enforce its strict abortion ban in the treatment of pregnant women suffering medical emergencies, a dramatic reversal from the previous administration in a closely watched lawsuit.

The Justice Department said it would move to dismiss the case originally filed by the Biden administration, according to court papers filed by the state’s largest hospital network.

It could come as soon as Wednesday, St. Luke’s Health System wrote in a court filing.

Idaho has one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws. The hospital has previously said the laws forced them to fly women out of state for emergency care.

Dropping the case would be among the new administration’s first major moves on abortion. 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. He has since said the issue should be left to the states.

Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from U.S. emergency rooms spiked after the overturning of Roe v. Wade amid questions about what care they could legally provide, federal records showed.

The Tuesday filing from St. Luke’s came as the hospital seeks a court order allowing doctors to continue providing abortions in emergency situations as they deem necessary.

A Justice Department spokesperson and Idaho officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

In its original lawsuit against Idaho, the Biden administration argued that federal law required doctors to perform abortions in emergency situations if a patient’s health or life were at serious risk — even if ending the pregnancy could run afoul of the state’s abortion ban.

Idaho has pushed back, saying that its state law allows 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 emergency abortions as doctors deemed necessary.

The high court did not, however, resolve key legal questions in the case, and it was argued before the 9th U.S. 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.