COURTESY IDAHO CAPITOL SUN
Three of Idaho’s health care licensing boards have asked the Idaho Supreme Court not to delay the implementation of Idaho’s abortion ban while a lawsuit against the ban makes its way through the court.
Hearings are scheduled for Aug. 3 in two different lawsuits over Idaho abortion laws. In both cases, Planned Parenthood Great Northwest and one of its Idaho abortion providers, Dr. Caitlin Gustafson, sued the state and various people and entities involved in the implementation of the law.
Planned Parenthood named the Idaho Board of Medicine, Idaho Board of Nursing and Idaho Board of Pharmacy in its most recent lawsuit — over Idaho’s “trigger law” that criminalizes abortion services — because those boards can suspend and revoke health care practitioners’ licenses once the ban takes effect.
The boards oversee the education, training and licensure of most of Idaho’s primary care providers, including those who provide abortion care or have patients who may seek abortions. The boards don’t represent doctors, nurses or pharmacists in the way that a trade association does — like advocating for their members before the Idaho Legislature.
But their mission puts them in a unique position when it comes to the abortion law. The boards are charged with ensuring the professionals they license are providing safe and quality health care to patients. They also, imminently, will be responsible for ensuring those professionals do not provide abortions under a law that some health care providers argue is too vague.
The Idaho Board of Medicine, Idaho Board of Nursing and Idaho Board of Pharmacy last week asked the Idaho Supreme Court to deny Planned Parenthood’s request to put the law on hold in a June 29 filing written by Idaho Deputy Attorney General Dayton P. Reed while the lawsuits are going through the court process.
“There are no proceedings to arrest: no court or board has ever applied (the law),” wrote Reed, representing the state and the boards. “And the (request to delay implementation) seeks to arrest the proceedings of third parties who are not respondents in this case: all Idaho Courts and law enforcement officers.”
The Idaho Capital Sun asked the Idaho Attorney General’s Office and the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses whether the boards’ members or executive director were consulted before the state made its latest filing in the case.
“We won’t have comment on that aspect,” said Scott Graf, public information officer for the AG’s office.
“I can’t comment on any pending litigation,” said Bob McLaughlin, public information officer for the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, the umbrella agency that now includes all of Idaho’s licensing boards.
Although the boards have their own attorneys, they also are state entities. So, they can be represented by the Idaho attorney general.
“The Board of Medicine, Board of Pharmacy, and Board of Nursing are being represented by the Idaho Office of Attorney General,” McLaughlin said. “The state’s position will be set forth in pleadings filed (to) the court.”
