SCOTUS ruling on Idaho abortion law could affect Washington
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Washington abortion providers who say Idaho's near-total ban on the procedure has brought more patients across the border in emergency situations are awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court ruling they fear could make that practice permanent.
Why it matters: Some local providers say they are already overloaded with out-of-state patients, and advocates here say they are concerned that Idaho's law, which does not include exceptions to protect the health of the pregnant patient, endangers patients if they are forced to delay urgent care for pregnancy complications.
- According to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks monthly abortion rates in each state, the number of abortions performed by clinicians in Washington went up 34.7% between 2020 and 2024.
Catch up quick: In the months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and the implementation of Idaho's abortion ban, the Society of Family Planning reported, abortion rates dropped by 48% in Idaho while increasing 5% in Washington.
- Mack Smith, a spokesperson with Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, said that Idaho's law "makes pregnancy more dangerous in the state, forcing patients to go to states like Washington even in the most dire circumstances."
The latest: Gov. Jay Inslee issued a directive last week clarifying that Washington hospitals are legally obligated to provide emergency abortion care.
State of play: The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of Idaho's abortion ban later this month. The Biden administration has argued the state is in violation of national protections for emergency treatment.
- Idaho argues that because abortion is illegal in Idaho, the service isn't included in federal protections for emergency treatment.
What they're saying: According to Sarah Prager, a Seattle-area abortion provider and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington, 5% of patients her clinic served in 2020 came from out of state. That number jumped to about 8% in 2023, with most out-of-state patients coming from Idaho, Oregon, Alaska and Texas.
- "I do expect this to be the norm if SCOTUS upholds the Idaho legislation," she says.
By the numbers: Idaho's abortion ban has already led to a loss of pregnancy care providers there.
- Half of Idaho's counties (22 of 44) no longer have a practicing obstetrician, according to an amicus brief filed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Emergency Medical Physicians and the American Medical Association.
- "Obstetricians' and maternal-fetal specialists' mass exodus from Idaho has left pregnant people across the state in a dangerous situation," they say.
Yes, but: At hospitals participating in Medicare, emergency care is federally protected even when it involves abortion.
- The enforcement of Idaho's abortion ban has included hospitals denying patients this treatment. The court will decide if the state's abortion ban can continue as written.