BOISE, Idaho -- The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit that challenges Idaho's restrictive abortion law, arguing that it conflicts with a federal law requiring doctors to provide pregnant women medically necessary treatment that could include abortion.
The federal government brought the lawsuit seeking to invalidate the state's "criminal prohibition on providing abortions as applied to women suffering medical emergencies," Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
The announcement is the first major action by the Justice Department challenging a state trigger law since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
The Justice Department brought the suit because federal prosecutors believe Idaho's law would force doctors to violate the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act -- a federal law that requires anyone coming to a medical facility for emergency treatment to be stabilized and treated, Garland said.
The Idaho law targeted by the Justice Department criminalizes all abortions, subjecting anyone who performs or attempts to perform an abortion to a felony punishable by two to five years in prison.
People who are charged under the law could defend themselves against the criminal allegations by arguing that the abortion was done to save a pregnant person's life or it was done after the patient reported that they were a victim of rape or incest to a law enforcement agency -- and provided a copy of that report to the abortion provider.
"Under the Idaho law, once effective, any state or local prosecutor can subject a physician to indictment, arrest, and prosecution merely by showing that an abortion has been performed, without regard to the circumstances," the Department of Justice wrote in the lawsuit. "The law then puts the burden on the physician to prove an 'affirmative defense' at trial."
Republican Gov. Brad Little said the U.S. Supreme Court gave states the ability to regulate abortion.
"The U.S. Justice Department's interference with Idaho's pro-life law is another example of Biden overreaching yet again," Little said in a prepared statement.
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, also a Republican, said the lawsuit was "politically motivated."
"Instead of complying with the requirements of this provision," Wasden said, referencing the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, "or even attempting to engage Idaho in a meaningful dialogue on the issue, the federal government has chosen to waste taxpayer dollars on an unnecessary lawsuit."
Idaho Democratic Party Chair Lauren Necochea praised the Justice Department's lawsuit in a prepared statement.
"In states where these bans have gone into effect, providers are waiting for medical conditions to worsen before assisting their pregnant patients. ... This is immoral," Necochea said.