Appeals court rules Idaho abortion ban may be enforced as voters prepare to weigh in

(OSV News) — A federal appeals court panel ruled Oct. 30 that Idaho’s abortion ban may continue to be fully enforced as voters in the Gem State prepared to vote directly on the legality of abortion on Nov. 3.

In a 2-1 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that a doctor who sued over Idaho’s abortion ban is unlikely to prevail on claims that the U.S. Constitution protects the right to an abortion where a mother’s life is at risk.

Idaho currently bans most abortions, with some exceptions for a maternal mortality risk or in cases of rape or incest in the first trimester, but only with a police report. Data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey has estimated that most rapes committed against women go unreported to police.

The ruling came just days before Idaho voters were scheduled to vote on abortion. A ballot initiative titled the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, also called Prop 1, would codify abortion as a right until fetal viability.

The text of the initiative does not assign a particular gestational age to fetal viability, defining it as “the point in a pregnancy when, on the basis of a physician’s good faith medical judgment, based on the facts known at the time, and determined on a case-by-case basis, the fetus has a significant likelihood of sustained survival outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical measures.”

Prop 1 would also extend protections to what it calls “personal decisions about reproductive healthcare that directly impact the person’s own body,” including contraception, childbirth, fertility treatments, and postpartum care.

Bishop Peter F. Christensen of Boise, Idaho, has urged Catholics in the state to vote “no” on Prop 1, saying it would be “devastating for the protection of human life” and undermine parental rights.

“Prop 1 is too extreme for Idaho, and we must vote NO this fall on this ballot initiative,” he said in a July statement on the initiative.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion.

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