Idaho Supreme Court sets hearing date for Texas-style abortion law challenge

The Idaho Supreme Court has set a date of Aug. 3 to hear oral arguments in the case filed by Planned Parenthood challenging the Texas-style abortion law passed by the Idaho Legislature in March.

The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. at the Supreme Court building, and all attorneys of record must inform the court within the next week whether or not they will present arguments during the hearing.

The law that Planned Parenthood is challenging, Senate Bill 1309, is modeled after similar legislation in Texas and allows civil lawsuits against medical professionals who provide abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound, which is generally by six weeks of pregnancy. The bill passed the Idaho Legislature and Gov. Brad Little signed it into law on March 23, but not without saying he had reservations about the lawsuit mechanism, and that he expected it would be challenged in court.

A week later, a regional chapter of Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit challenging the law, and the Idaho Supreme Court granted a pause on the law’s implementation while the case is ongoing. The court reaffirmed its decision to keep the law from going into effect in May.

If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade case this summer, the case that acknowledged a person’s constitutional right to seek an abortion, a trigger law passed by the Idaho Legislature in 2020 would take effect 30 days later and make abortion a felony. The law only makes exceptions for rape, incest and to save the pregnant person’s life. A rape or incest victim would have to provide a copy of a police report to the physician who would perform the procedure.