By Dave Andrusko
When Gov. Brad Little signed the Fetal Heartbeat Preborn Child Protection Act, it made Idaho “the first state to enact a law modeled after a Texas statute banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and allowing it to be enforced through civil lawsuits to avoid constitutional court challenges,” according to Keith Ridler of the Associated Press.
On cue, one week later, “Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky filed a petition in the Idaho Supreme Court to block the law,” the Idaho Stateman’s Ryan Suppe reported.
Planned Parenthood Great Northwest and a Valley County doctor asked the Idaho Supreme Court to review the law (Senate Bill 1309), before it was scheduled to go into effect–April 22.
“The state filed a motion asking the court to reconsider an order to expedite the case, and allow more time,” the Associated Press reported. “Planned Parenthood agreed to allow more time if the court blocked implementation of the law pending further court action.”
“The court also set a deadline of April 28 for the state to submit its brief to the court, and ordered Planned Parenthood to file a reply brief no later than 14 days after the state submits its brief,” according to the AP. “That means the court will likely not hear oral arguments until the middle of May, at the earliest.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, which covers all of Idaho, filed a request to intervene in support of the law as a “friend of the court.”
Bishop Peter Christensen, the bishop of the diocese, wrote that the diocese helped educate the legislators.
“The Diocese counseled and educated legislators regarding the same, and provided support during the legislative process to proponents of the bill,” Christensen wrote in the legal filing
Attorneys for the Catholic Church wrote that it has “maintained a vested interest in the dignity and sanctity of all human life, including life of the unborn.”
In the request to intervene, attorneys for the Catholic Church said the Diocese has “maintained a vested interest in the dignity and sanctity of all human life, including life of the unborn.”
The bishop of the diocese, Bishop Peter Christensen, wrote in a legal filing that the church helped get the abortion ban through the Legislature.
“The Diocese counseled and educated legislators regarding the same, and provided support during the legislative process to proponents of the bill,” Christensen wrote in the legal filing
When the bill was in the state House, the Washington Post’s Caroline Kitchener reported,
Ahead of the vote, state Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R), who co-sponsored the legislation, emphasized that the Texas ban has “withstood three challenges,” referring to the three occasions in which the U.S. Supreme Court passed up an opportunity to block the law since it took effect in September.
“Abortion is not a constitutional right,” Ehardt said. “The Supreme Court in 1973 did something that was never allowed in the first place.”