Idaho health care providers can refer patients for abortions out of state, judge rules

Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador wrote a letter to a lawmaker in March in which he opined that referring a patient to legal abortion services in other states would constitute assisting in an abortion or attempted abortion. | Kyle Green/AP PhotoA federal judge has ruled that it would violate Idaho medical providers’ free speech rights to sanction them for referring patients to out-of-state abortion services, rejecting the state attorney general’s interpretation of Idaho’s abortion ban.

Planned Parenthood and several medical providers sued the next month, arguing such a restriction would violate their First Amendment right to free speech. Health care providers are not restricted from referring patients out of state for prenatal care or other treatment, they noted. “The Constitution protects the individual right to travel between states, and Idaho’s radical Legislature cannot abolish that right,” Democratic Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement.decision last year overturned the landmark abortion rights ruling in, some Idaho residents traveled to neighboring states for the procedure just because they had the closest clinic.

Winmill’s order blocked the Office of Attorney General from enforcing Idaho’s criminal abortion law as Labrador interpreted it. For technical and procedural reasons, he did not block the state boards of medicine and nursing from suspending the licenses of providers who refer patients for abortions out of state or who prescribe abortion drugs for patients to pick up in another state.

“We think that they’ve probably gotten the message, based on what the court decided, that that’s not an appropriate interpretation,” Smith said. Labrador’s office argued it does not have the authority to criminally prosecute providers who refer patients out of state. Further, the state’s attorneys noted, Labrador formally withdrew the letter after the lawsuit was filed, saying its analysis was “void.”

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Judge blocks Idaho prosecution of out-of-state abortion referralsA U.S. judge on Monday blocked the state of Idaho at least temporarily from prosecuting doctors who refer patients out of state to get an abortion, finding that would violate a medical provider's right to free speech.
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