Idaho pro-lifers score win as appeals court pauses abortion ruling

A federal appeals court on Oct. 30 paused an injunction that allowed an Idaho physician to perform abortions beyond the exceptions permitted under state law.

The injunction had allowed Dr. Stacy Seyb to perform abortions when, in his “good faith medical judgment,” continuing a pregnancy posed a serious risk to a woman’s health. The district court later narrowed the ruling to apply only to Seyb, leaving Idaho free to enforce its abortion restrictions against other doctors, as Zeale News previously reported.

Attorney General Raúl Labrador and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys secured the pause from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit while the appeal proceeds, according to ADF’s release.

ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch welcomed the decision.

“States have the strongest possible interest in protecting the most fundamental of our human rights—the right to life,” Bursch said in the release. “Nothing in the federal Constitution grants a right to take innocent, unborn life. We’re pleased the court respected Idahoans’ desire to protect life, which Attorney General Labrador has fought so courageously to defend.”

According to ADF’s release, in granting the pause, the appeals court cited the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, noting that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.”

Idaho generally prohibits abortion from conception except in limited circumstances, including to prevent the mother’s death and in certain cases of reported rape or incest.