Mar. 30, 2005 – On Monday the United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the Idaho Attorney General seeking to reinstate an anti-abortion law that a lower court had said was so strict and narrow it could interfere with a woman?s right to undergo the procedure, even if her pregnancy was life threatening.
At issue was a law requiring women under the age of eighteen to obtain permission from a parent or a judge before obtaining an abortion, except in "sudden and unexpected" emergencies.
By turning aside the case without comment, the US Supreme Court let stand a decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which had determined in the summer of 2004 that Idaho?s parental consent requirement was unreasonably narrow.
Despite the ruling, lawmakers are considering another bill that would reinstate much of the disputed law.
