Feds Sue Idaho Over State's Restrictive Abortion Law

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Idaho, claiming the state's restrictive abortion law violates federal law and criminalizes doctors who provide medically-necessary treatment to patients.

The announcement by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is the first major action by the Justice Department challenging a state trigger law since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June, ending almost a half-century of federal protection of women's reproductive rights.

The court’s decision led many states to enact restrictive abortion laws and is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half of U.S. states.

During Tuesday's announcement, Garland said the Justice Department brought the suit because Idaho’s law would force doctors to violate the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a federal law that requires any hospital that receives Medicare funds to stabilize and treat any person coming to a medical facility for emergency treatment.

"When a hospital determines that an abortion is the medical treatment necessary to stabilize a patient's emergency medical condition, it is required by federal law to provide that treatment," Garland said.

Idaho's law is scheduled to go into effect later this month.

The announcement comes less than a month after the Department of Justice launched the Reproductive Rights Task Force, formed primarily to protect access to reproductive health care in the United States.

The task force is chaired by Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and consists of representatives from multiple federal agencies. Its role is also to monitor and evaluate all state and local legislation and enforcement actions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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