Legal challenge to Idaho’s strict abortion law could have nationwide implications

Amna Nawaz:

An Idaho state court will hear arguments tomorrow in a case brought by four women who allege they were denied emergency care because of the state's abortion laws, which are some of the most restrictive in the nation. The women argue that the medical exceptions in the state's laws are too narrow to protect the health of pregnant patients, including in cases of fatal fetal diagnoses.

For more on the case, I'm joined now by the lead plaintiff, Jennifer Adkins, and Marc Hearron, senior counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the women in this lawsuit.

Welcome to you both.

And, Jennifer, I want to start with you and your experience, because you were 12 weeks pregnant with your second child when you received multiple diagnoses for the fetus, including Turner's syndrome, which I understand ends in miscarriage in the vast majority of cases. I'm so sorry for that.

Can you just tell us what it was like to receive that news?

Jennifer Adkins, Plaintiff:

I mean, it was it was devastating to find out that a baby that we were really excited to welcome into our family was not going to survive the pregnancy.

And it was just — it was news that no parent wants to get. And knowing that we couldn't get health care in our home state was just added heartbreak to us.

Amna Nawaz:

Marc, the state attorney general here has argued that the law says — quote — it allows a doctor to perform an abortion if he or she has a "subjective good-faith belief that there is a risk of death to the mother if it's not done."

You're representing three other women in this case, but you're also representing two physicians and a local medical association. What did they tell you about how they're interpreting this exception?

Marc Hearron, Senior Counsel, Center for Reproductive Rights: So, actually, let me just say that the attorney general's quotation of the law is wrong.

The law only allows an abortion if it is — quote — "necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman." And doctors all across Idaho or anywhere in the United States are not trained to draw the line about what medical care is necessary just to prevent their patient'S death.

They are trained to provide all necessary treatment options and health care that would prevent their patient'S health from deteriorating. So these abortion bands are handcuffing doctors, preventing them from providing the full spectrum of care to their patients, and under threat of criminal penalties.

Doctors do not understand what this law means. They don't understand how to apply it to their practice. What they do know is that if they provide care in reliance on the exceptions, they are subjecting themselves to threat of criminal prosecution, massive civil fines, loss of their medical license.

And so it's no wonder that you have seen an exodus of obstetricians and gynecologists and maternal fetal medicine specialists from the state of Idaho. You have seen closure of labor and delivery wards. And there is a health care crisis going on in Idaho because of some of the most restrictive abortion bans in the United States.

Amna Nawaz:

Jennifer, in your case, you were, as you mentioned, forced to leave the state. You traveled to Oregon, some six hours away, to receive an abortion.

Just help us understand what that process was like to figure out where to go and to organize it all and to pay for it all as well.

Jennifer Adkins:

Right.

I mean, you're forced to in that kind of situation immediately start scrambling and kind of ignore the grief that you're experiencing, knowing that you're not going to take home a baby, and instead juggle logistics and, like you said, coordinate the travel, find the funds to travel and call a bunch of different clinics that you have never called before,that you don't have a relationship with.

And, especially when you're not referred by your doctor, they don't know anything about your story. They don't know anything about you as a patient. And so you have to explain yourself over and over again and try to find appointment availability and those types of logistics.

And it's the last thing that grieving family and a bereaved family is wanting to do is walk through all of these mechanical logistics.

Amna Nawaz:

Can I ask, Jennifer, at any point in all of this, did you ever consider carrying the pregnancy further, seeing if you could carry to term?

Jennifer Adkins:

You know, it was it was explained to me that even if I attempted to continue the pregnancy that my baby would not survive to term, and that I was likely to miscarry.

And miscarriage itself has risks of certain things like hemorrhaging and sepsis and other risks. I also understood that I could develop something called mirror syndrome and develop high blood pressure and edema, which is swelling under the skin. And so, even if I attempted, it would be a risk to my health.

Amna Nawaz:

Marc, the goal of this lawsuit, lay this out for us. And what would it change in Idaho and what would be the broader impact, especially given this context we have of an incoming administration that signaled there could be further restrictions on abortion access?

Marc Hearron:

Look, what we're asking for in this lawsuit is pretty simple. We're asking that doctors be able to practice medicine as they have been trained to.

And that includes abortion care where such care is within the standard of care to treat a patient and prevent them — to prevent a serious health risk or a threat to their lives. And the laws currently are inadequate for doctors to feel comfortable with providing care like they have been trained to do.

I do think this case — the Center for Reproductive Rights has filed similar cases in Tennessee and in Texas. And this is important at a national level because it highlights what could happen if there is a national abortion ban enacted by the new Congress at any gestation.

You know, I have heard politicians throw out, well, how about 15 weeks, a 15-week abortion ban or 16-week abortion ban as a compromise?

These medical complications that arise that are opposing serious health risks to patients often, they're arising at 17, 18, 19 weeks in pregnancy. So what you're seeing in Idaho will go on tour all across the United States and will come to every state, regardless of the abortion laws within that state, if we have a national abortion ban.

Amna Nawaz:

That is Marc Hearron from the Center for Reproductive Rights and the lead plaintiff in their Idaho case, Jennifer Adkins.

Thank you to you both. Really appreciate your time.

Marc Hearron:

Thank you.

Jennifer Adkins:

Thank you.