WASHINGTON – On Thursday, January 5th, the Idaho Supreme Court issued a decision in Planned Parenthood v. State of Idaho that upholds protective state laws that were passed in 2020 and 2022. The bills were signed into law by pro-life Governor Brad Little.
“Right to Life of Idaho is elated that the Idaho Supreme Court upheld pro-life laws that were passed by the representatives of the people,” said Jason Herring, president of Right to Life of Idaho. “In issuing the decision, the court rightly found that there is no right to abortion in the Idaho Constitution and that the people of Idaho have the right to protect innocent unborn lives.”
The lawsuit was an effort to invalidate the protective legislation and argued that there was a constitutional right to abortion in the Idaho Constitution. The Idaho Supreme Court found that there is no implicit or explicit right to abortion and noted that, “To the contrary, the relevant history and traditions of Idaho show abortion was viewed as an immoral act and treated as a crime.”
The court also recognized that if it had concluded there was a right to abortion in the state constitution, “the Idaho Constitution would no longer be the voice of the people of Idaho— it would be effectively replaced by the voice of a select few sitting on this Court.”
We encourage other courts to follow the example set by the exemplary action of this court.
“National Right to Life celebrates this victory with our state affiliate, Right to Life of Idaho, and looks forward to seeing thousands of lives saved,” stated Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.