With Supreme Court mandate issued, Idaho’s abortion ban will start in 30 days

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — More than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would overturn landmark abortion cases and return decisions on abortion rights to the states, a final court decision has set in motion an Idaho trigger law that will ban nearly all abortions.

Idaho’s ban goes into effect 30 days after a Supreme Court judgment is issued returning authority to individual states. Though the Supreme Court issued its decision on Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood on June 24, the final mandate in the case was handed down Tuesday.

The Idaho abortion ban — which would make it a felony for health care providers to perform abortions except to save the life of the mother or in instances of rape or incest that are reported to law enforcement — is set to go into effect on Thursday, Aug. 25. Gov. Brad Little’s office confirmed the date.

Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, which runs the two remaining clinics in Idaho that provide abortions, filed a petition in the Idaho Supreme Court last month alleging that the abortion ban is unlawful. Arguments in that case are scheduled to be heard Aug. 3.

It is one of three lawsuits Planned Parenthood has filed over Idaho’s stringent abortion laws.