Yesterday, the Trump Administration signaled it plans to drop a case blocking Idaho from denying people the emergency abortion care they need. Later in the night, in a separate case, St. Luke’s Health System, Idaho’s largest hospital system, was granted a temporary restraining order against the Idaho attorney general, temporarily continuing to protect people’s access to the emergency health care services they need.
Dr. Jamila Perritt, ob/gyn and abortion provider in Washington DC and President & CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health responds:
“I am alarmed and disturbed by yesterday’s news that the Trump Administration plans to drop the Department of Justice case against the state of Idaho, signaling that he and the Administration are willing to facilitate and enable the preventable harm and death of pregnant people in our country by way of denying them the emergency care they need.
“As an ob/gyn, I trained for more than a decade to ensure that I could care for and support the agency, dignity, and autonomy of the pregnant patients in my community. Whether caring for them throughout their pregnancies and supporting them as they delivered their babies, providing them with the abortion care they need, or helping them to manage miscarriages or pregnancy loss, I am intimately aware how critical timely, compassionate care is in a person’s life.
This will cause direct and irreparable harm to countless communities. No one is safe.
“Sometimes, pregnant people face tragic circumstances during pregnancies that can place their lives at risk. In some cases, the only way to intervene save them is with abortion care. When this occurs, it must be done in an emergent, timely fashion.
“This move to drop the case is unconscionable but not surprising. The President of the United States has determined who deserves care and who does not, essentially ordering people to suffer, for families and communities to lose their parents, siblings, children, loved ones, and friends.
“This will cause direct and irreparable harm to countless communities. No one is safe. Abortion bans have already caused, and will continue to cause, preventable and tragic deaths. We are grateful for the newly effective temporary restraining order, a momentary safeguard for patients facing dire circumstances, but our communities deserve a permanent solution. This solution must center and prioritize the health and safety all people, not further endanger our lives and communities.”
