Friends,
We have suffered a major setback in our battle to protect preborn babies with beating hearts.
Last Friday, the Idaho State Supreme Court granted a temporary stay on the implementation of our Heartbeat law in response to a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood.
The stay, which blocks the law from going into effect until after the court issues a ruling sometime this summer, means the law will no longer become enforceable on April 22.
I want you to know that the court did not block the Heartbeat law because it is unconstitutional. This law is manifestly defensible under both our federal and state constitutions. In fact, a similar Texas law has been in effect for more than six months, during which time tens of thousands of preborn babies have been saved.
So what happened? According to court documents, the Idaho Attorney General cut a deal with Planned Parenthood, in which both parties agreed to let the court temporarily block the law in exchange for slowing down court proceedings.
The Office of the Attorney General – which is statutorily responsible for defending the law in court – says the compromise was necessary because the process was moving too quickly for their team to mount an adequate legal defense.
We disagree. The attorney general had ample time to put forward a robust legal defense in the weeks before the law was scheduled to go into effect. And now the sad reality is that the legally condoned slaughter of preborn children with beating hearts will continue unnecessarily for at least a couple more months.
More than 140 babies are butchered each month in Idaho abortion clinics. We need a sense of urgency—now. And that’s why we specially crafted our Heartbeat law to start saving these precious babies right away.
Unfortunately, by dragging out the court proceedings while the law remains blocked, our attorney general delays extending legal protection to these preborn children.
But all is not lost. Never forget that this is a spiritual battle, and God is on the throne. We need to be praying that our attorney general and his team give everything they have in defending this law, despite this major misstep. After all, the babies deserve it, and the Lord of the Universe demands nothing less.
Standing with you,
Blaine Conzatti
President, Idaho Family Policy Center
