The fall of Roe in made two things clear: that abortion was a matter best left to state electorates to decide for themselves, and that the right to an elective abortion did not exist in the U.S. Constitution. Like many deep-red states freed from Roe’s judicial fiat, went into effect immediately, banning abortion at any point in pregnancy with only strict exceptions in cases of rape or incest (prior to six weeks of gestation) or risk of death to the mother.
But in Seyb v. Labrador, an Idaho district court is the first to have “found” a new constitutional right to a “health-preserving abortion.” In an August ruling, the court claims it had discovered that the fundamental right to abortion is protected when the continuation of a pregnancy will harm the woman, or if denial of the abortion will lead to her death from self-harm. Dr. Stacy Seyb, an obstetrician who handles high-risk pregnancies at the St. Luke’s fetal-medicine clinic — founded by the Episcopal diocese — sued state and local officials who enforce the state’s abortion ban. He alleged that the ambiguity and far-reaching nature of the laws forced him to send patients in life-threatening pregnancies out of state for abortions and argued that the laws violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.
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