The Trump administration moved to drop a lawsuit Wednesday against Idaho that had been initiated by the Biden administration against the state over its abortion restriction law.
Former President Biden’s Justice Department — following the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022 — sued states, including Idaho, over the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires states that accept federal health funds to provide necessary emergency care to stabilize patients.
The Biden administration argued the law requires abortions to be performed in hospital waiting rooms.
Idaho, meanwhile, argued its law allows for emergency exceptions that the feds were trying to expand beyond the provisions’ intended scope.
The case made it to the Supreme Court last year, which kicked it back to lower courts on the grounds that too many facts were uncertain for them to review the case.
The appeal was still pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when the move to drop the litigation was made.
The dismissal is seen as the first major reversal from the new administration in a high-stakes case initiated during the Justice Department under former Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“The circuit clerk must dismiss a docketed appeal if the parties file a signed dismissal agreement specifying how costs are to be paid and pay any court fees that are due,” one of Wednesday’s filings read.
Both Idaho and the federal government plan to take care of their own attorneys’ costs.
Idaho bans abortion with exceptions for rape and saving the pregnant woman’s life.
According to The Associated Press, about 50,000 women in the country experience life-threatening complications from pregnancy every year.
The state law is still on hold, as U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill, a Clinton appointee, granted a temporary restraining order Tuesday night for St. Luke’s Health System.
The health group moved to keep an injunction against the law in place.
St. Luke’s has sued the state over its abortion law, according to the Idaho Statesman.
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
