BOISE, Idaho (AP) – The Idaho Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request from the Roman Catholic Church of Idaho to intervene in a lawsuit for a new Idaho law banning nearly all abortions.
The court did not explain why the church was expelled after the diocese of Boise on Monday demanded the right to participate in a lawsuit in support of the ban.
Idaho became the first state last month to pass legislation enacted under Texas law banning abortion after six weeks. Idaho law would allow prospective fathers, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles or fetuses to sue abortion providers for at least $ 20,000 in compensation four years after the abortion. Offenders are not allowed to sue under the law, but relatives of the offender can.
Planned parents in the Greater Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, and Kentucky have sued the law, calling it unconstitutional, and last week the Idaho Supreme Court blocked entry into force of the abortion ban pending litigation. .
The Diocese of Boise on Wednesday did not immediately respond to a phone call asking for comment on the Supreme Court decision.
In a request for intervention, Church supporters said the diocese “maintains an interest in the dignity and sanctity of all human life, including the life of the unborn.”
The diocese’s bishop, Bishop Peter Christensen, wrote in a legal statement that helped the church encourage state lawmakers to approve the abortion ban.
The lawsuit is one of many legal battles over access to abortion across the country. The conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has expressed willingness to brutally eliminate or even overthrow Rowe Wade in the Mississippi case, a 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide as long as the baby survived from the womb. Many Republican-majority states are willing to follow a stricter interpretation of the decision.
Source: Huffpost