Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has appealed a federal court ruling that blocked enforcement of portions of the state’s near-total abortion ban, simultaneously asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to pause the decision while the case moves forward.

U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill had ruled that the 14th Amendment shields a right to abortion when a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life, physical health, or creates a severe risk of self-harm. The ruling prevented enforcement of certain provisions of Idaho’s Defense of Life Act while a legal challenge proceeded.

Labrador’s office pushed back against Winmill’s reasoning, arguing the law already allows physicians to perform abortions in good faith when a mother’s life is at risk — making the injunction unnecessary. The attorney general filed an emergency motion asking the appellate court to stay the injunction and restore the law’s full enforceability during the appeals process.

Winmill was pointed in his ruling, telling the Legislature, as first reported by KMVT, “A pregnant woman’s health is not a state resource to be allocated at the legislature’s whim.”

Labrador’s appeal now heads to the Ninth Circuit, where the court will decide both whether to grant the emergency stay and, ultimately, whether Winmill’s constitutional interpretation holds.

The case is one of several ongoing legal battles reshaping Idaho’s abortion landscape following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. How the Ninth Circuit rules could also carry implications for other states in the circuit still navigating post-Dobbs enforcement questions. The Idaho Supreme Court may also play a role in parallel state-level proceedings as litigation continues.