Medical groups, 20 states weigh in on Idaho abortion lawsuit

Medical groups, 20 states weigh in on Idaho abortion lawsuit

SeattlePI.com

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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A legal battle over abortion rights pitting one of the reddest states in the nation against the U.S. government has dozens of states and major medical associations seeking to weigh in.

Twenty states, Washington, D.C., the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and others are among those to have filed “friend of the court” briefs as of Wednesday, siding with the federal government's claims that Idaho's near-total abortion ban violates federal health care law.

“It will really place physicians in a lose-lose situation,” said Jeff Dubner, the deputy legal director for Democracy Forward, the legal team representing the coalition of medical associations.

Physicians who follow the federal law will be at risk of criminal prosecution and the loss of their medical license, said Dubner, and those who follow state law could damage patients’ health and place themselves and their hospitals at risk of federal fines or loss of funding.

The Idaho abortion ban makes performing nearly any abortion a felony, but allows physicians to defend themselves in court by showing that the procedure was necessary to save a patient's life. The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires Medicaid-funded hospitals to provide “stabilizing” treatment to patients experiencing medical emergencies, and the U.S. Department of Justice says that includes some abortions.

The Justice Department sued Idaho earlier this month in federal court and asked a judge to stop the abortion ban from taking effect.

Idaho's neighbors in Oregon and Washington were among the states that joined to file another friend-of-the court brief, saying they fear the “spillover effect” the abortion ban could...

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