Idaho's Abortion Laws, 1973 to Prop 1: A Timeline
Published October 29, 2026 · Current through October 28, 2026 · Sources: Idaho Legislature bill pages and Idaho Code, court rulings
Idaho's abortion law today is the product of laws passed over five decades, several written to take effect only if the U.S. Supreme Court changed course, and of court rulings that decided which parts could be enforced. This timeline lists them in order: what each law did, in its own terms, how the Legislature voted, and what the courts said.
Every entry links to its source: the bill on the Legislature's website (and on Tally for 2016 and later), the section of Idaho Code, or the ruling. Where a description comes from a bill's statement of purpose, it's labeled as the sponsors' words. Tally Idaho does not take positions on ballot measures.
Where Idaho law stands, as of October 28, 2026
- Abortion is a felony under the Defense of Life Act (§18-622), punishable by 2 to 5 years in prison, with license suspension or revocation for health care professionals. The woman cannot be prosecuted.
- Two exceptions, both for abortions performed by a physician: when the physician judges in good faith that it is necessary to prevent the woman's death (not counting a risk of self-harm), and during the first trimester when the woman has reported a rape or incest to law enforcement (or, for a minor, to police or child protective services) and given the physician a copy of the report.
- Not counted as abortion: removing an ectopic or molar pregnancy, removing a dead fetus, and birth control pills or IUDs.
- Civil lawsuits: family members can sue medical professionals for at least $20,000 over an abortion after cardiac activity is detected (§18-8807).
- Minors: parental consent or a judge's approval is required (§18-609A), and helping a minor obtain an abortion while concealing it from her parents, by harboring or transporting her in Idaho, is a felony (§18-623; the "recruiting" part is blocked in court).
- Pending in court: St. Luke's injunction for EMTALA emergencies (St. Luke's providers only) and the Seyb health-exception ruling (Dr. Seyb only, stayed by the 9th Circuit while it considers the appeal).
This is a summary of the statutes and rulings below, not legal advice.
1973–2021: Laws passed while Roe v. Wade was in force
Under Roe (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), states could not ban abortion before viability. Several of the laws below were written to take effect only if that changed.
- 1973Law
The framework for legal abortions by trimester
In the year of Roe v. Wade, the Legislature enacted the core of today's abortion chapter (1973 Session Laws ch. 197), including §18-605, which makes performing an unlawful abortion a felony, and §18-608, which set the conditions under which abortions were legal in each trimester, including that second- and third-trimester abortions be performed in a hospital.
Sources: Idaho Code §18-605 · Idaho Code §18-608
- 1998Law
Partial-birth abortion ban
§18-613prohibited a procedure the statute calls partial-birth abortion, except to save the woman's life (1998 Session Laws ch. 34). It was rewritten in 2019 (below).
Source: Idaho Code §18-613 and history
- 2007Law
Parental consent for minors
§18-609A requires written consent from a parent or guardian before an abortion for an unemancipated minor. A minor can instead ask a district judge, who may approve if they find by clear and convincing evidence that she is mature enough to decide or that the abortion is in her best interest (2007 Session Laws ch. 193; amended 2010 and 2015).
Source: Idaho Code §18-609A
- April 13, 2011Law
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (S.B. 1165)
Prohibits abortion at 20 or more weeks after fertilization, except to prevent the woman's death or serious, lasting physical harm, with emotional or psychological conditions excluded. It has no rape or incest exception. Signed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and effective the same day. Now Idaho Code chapter 18-5.
Final votes (yes-no-absent): Senate 24-10-1 · House 54-14-2
Sources: S.B. 1165 (2011) · Idaho Code §18-505
- April 6, 2015Law
Physician Physical Presence and Women Protection Act (H.B. 154)
Set conditions for prescribing abortion-inducing drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol are named): the physician had to examine the woman in person, be able to date the pregnancy and rule out an ectopic pregnancy, and arrange emergency surgical care if needed. It also created civil lawsuits for violations (§§18-617 to 18-621). This law regulated how medication abortion was provided; it did not ban it.
Final votes (yes-no-absent): House 55-14-1 · Senate 27-7-1 (amended) · House concurred 54-14-2
Sources: H.B. 154 (2015) · Idaho Code §18-617
- May 29, 2015Court
McCormack v. Herzog (9th Circuit)
The federal appeals court held the 2011 20-week ban unconstitutional under the precedent then in force, because it banned some abortions before viability. The case began with an Idaho woman, Jennie McCormack, who was charged after ending a pregnancy with pills bought online. The court also struck down the requirement that second-trimester abortions be performed in a hospital. That precedent no longer controls after Dobbs (2022).
Source: JURIST: appeals court strikes down Idaho abortion laws (May 2015)
- 2016Law
Unborn Infants Dignity Act and ultrasound notice
S.B. 1404 makes it illegal to use organs or tissue from aborted fetuses for any purpose, including research, and, in the sponsors' words, gives mothers a right to "respectful disposition" of the remains. H.B. 516 requires that a woman be told, before an abortion, that free ultrasound imaging and heart-tone monitoring are available.
Sources: S.B. 1404 (2016) · H.B. 516 (2016)
- April 4, 2017Law
In-person and telehealth rules from 2015 repealed (H.B. 250)
Removed the 2015 requirement that a physician examine the woman in person before providing abortion-inducing drugs, and the ban on prescribing them by telehealth. The sponsor's statement of purpose says the goal was to end a pending federal lawsuit, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands v. Wasden, and its legal costs.
Final votes (yes-no-absent): House 52-18-0 · Senate 27-7-1
Source: H.B. 250 (2017)
- 2018Law
Abortion Complications Reporting Act (H.B. 638)
Requires that health complications from abortions be reported to the Department of Health and Welfare, which publishes annual statistical reports. H.B. 638 on Tally
Source: H.B. 638 (2018)
- 2019Law
Partial-birth ban rewritten (S.B. 1049)
Rewrote §18-613 to match the federal ban the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in Gonzales v. Carhart (2007), per the sponsors' statement of purpose. S.B. 1049 on Tally
Source: S.B. 1049 (2019)
- March 24, 2020Law
Trigger law: the crime of criminal abortion (S.B. 1385)
Created §18-622, written to take effect 30 days after a U.S. Supreme Court judgment, or a constitutional amendment, that "restores to the states their authority to prohibit abortion." Anyone who performs or attempts an abortion commits a felony punishable by 2 to 5 years in prison, and a health care professional's license is suspended for at least six months on a first offense and revoked on a second. The woman cannot be prosecuted. As first passed, the life and rape/incest provisions were affirmative defenses a physician had to prove in court, not exceptions, and the rape/incest defense required a police report (or, for a minor, a report to police or child protective services) given to the physician beforehand. It had no time limit. Signed by Gov. Brad Little.
Final votes (yes-no-absent): Senate 27-7-1 · House 49-18-3
Sources: S.B. 1385 (2020) · S.B. 1385 bill text
- April 27, 2021Law
Fetal Heartbeat Preborn Child Protection Act (H.B. 366)
Prohibits abortion once embryonic or fetal cardiac activity is detected, which the law requires providers to test for, except in a medical emergency or a reported rape or incest. Violations by a licensed health care professional are a felony with the same 2-to-5-year sentence and license penalties. It was written to take effect 30 days after any U.S. appeals court upheld a similar ban, and says the total ban in §18-622 supersedes it if both are enforceable.
Final votes (yes-no-absent): House 53-16-1 · Senate 25-7-3
Sources: H.B. 366 (2021) · H.B. 366 on Tally
- 2021Law
Public funds and abortion (H.B. 220)
Bars state and local governments, including public school districts, from contracting with abortion providers, and from using public funds, assets or employees to "procure, counsel in favor, refer to, or perform an abortion," per the sponsors' statement. Violations are prosecuted under the misuse-of-public-funds law. H.B. 220 on Tally
Source: H.B. 220 (2021)
2022: Dobbs and the trigger law
- March 23, 2022Law
Civil lawsuits added to the heartbeat law (S.B. 1309)
Let the woman, the father, grandparents, siblings, aunts or uncles of the "preborn child" sue medical professionals who perform an abortion after cardiac activity is detected, for at least $20,000 plus costs and attorney fees, within four years. A man who caused the pregnancy through rape or incest cannot sue. The lawsuit provision is enforced only through these private suits; state officials and prosecutors can't bring them or intervene. Unlike the criminal penalties, the civil-suit provision was not tied to a court ruling: its effective date was April 22, 2022. It also renumbered the 2021 law as chapter 18-88. News coverage at the time called it Texas-style, after a 2021 Texas law that also relies on private lawsuits.
Final votes (yes-no-absent): Senate 28-6-1 · House 51-14-5
Sources: S.B. 1309 (2022) · S.B. 1309 on Tally
- April 2022Court
Idaho Supreme Court pauses S.B. 1309
Planned Parenthood sued, and the court put the civil-lawsuit law on hold while the case proceeded.
Source: KSL / AP: Idaho Supreme Court temporarily blocks new abortion law
- June 24, 2022Court
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (U.S. Supreme Court)
Overruled Roe and Casey, returning abortion regulation to the states. The Court's judgment started the 30-day clock in Idaho's trigger law.
Source: Opinion (supremecourt.gov)
- August 2, 2022Court
United States v. Idaho filed
The U.S. Justice Department sued, arguing the trigger law conflicts with EMTALA, the federal law requiring hospitals that take Medicare to provide stabilizing emergency treatment, in cases where an abortion is that treatment.
- August 12, 2022Court
Idaho Supreme Court lets the bans take effect
In a 3-2 order, the court declined to block the trigger law and lifted its April pause on S.B. 1309 while it heard the challenges, finding Planned Parenthood had not shown the harm required for a pause.
- August 24, 2022Court
Federal preliminary injunction on emergency care
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill barred Idaho from enforcing the trigger law where it conflicts with EMTALA, that is, for emergency abortions EMTALA requires. The rest of the law was unaffected.
Source: Idaho Capital Sun: judge partially blocks trigger ban
- August 25, 2022Law
The trigger law takes effect
The Idaho Code's history line for §18-622 records its effective date as August 25, 2022.
Source: Idaho Code §18-622 and history
2023: The state constitution ruling and the Defense of Life Act
- January 5, 2023Court
Planned Parenthood Great Northwest v. State of Idaho (Idaho Supreme Court)
In a 3-2 decision, the court held that the Idaho Constitution does not include a right to abortion and upheld the trigger law, the heartbeat law and the civil-lawsuit law. Justices Colleen Zahn and John Stegner dissented.
Source: PBS NewsHour / AP (Jan. 5, 2023)
- April 4, 2023Law
Trigger law becomes the Defense of Life Act (H.B. 374)
Renamed §18-622 the "Defense of Life Act" and removed its trigger language. The life and rape/incest provisions became exceptions, things that are not criminal abortions, rather than defenses a doctor proves after being charged. The rape/incest exception was limited, for the first time, to the first trimester (defined in the law as 13 weeks). The definition of abortion now expressly excludes removing an ectopic or molar pregnancy, removing a dead fetus, treating a woman who is no longer pregnant, and IUDs or birth control pills. Someone who reports a rape or incest is entitled to a copy of the report within 72 hours. Effective July 1, 2023.
Final votes (yes-no-absent): House 59-1-10 · Senate 26-7-2
Sources: H.B. 374 (2023) · H.B. 374 on Tally
- April 5, 2023Law
Abortion trafficking (H.B. 242)
Created §18-623: an adult who, intending to hide it from a minor's parents or guardian, procures an abortion or abortion pills for the minor "by recruiting, harboring, or transporting the pregnant minor within this state" commits a felony punishable by 2 to 5 years. A parent's or guardian's consent is a defense; an out-of-state provider is not. Giving information about a health benefit plan doesn't count. The attorney general may prosecute trafficking cases if a county prosecutor refuses to. (The bill as introduced also extended that power to the main abortion ban; the Senate amended it out.) Effective May 5, 2023.
Final votes (yes-no-absent): House 57-12-1 · Senate 27-7-1 (amended) · House concurred 58-11-1
Sources: H.B. 242 (2023) · H.B. 242 on Tally
- September 2023Court
Adkins v. State of Idaho filed
Women who said they were denied abortions despite serious pregnancy complications sued in state court over how the medical exception applies. The ruling came in 2025 (below).
Source: Center for Reproductive Rights (plaintiffs’ counsel)
2024–2025: Emergency care, the trafficking law, and the medical exception
- June 27, 2024Court
Moyle v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court)
The Court had let Idaho enforce its law in full in January 2024 while it heard the EMTALA case. In June it dismissed the case as improvidently granted, without deciding the question, and lifted its January order, so the 2022 emergency-care injunction applied again.
- 2024Law
Sex education materials (H.B. 666)
Bars abortion providers from supplying materials or instruction for sex education curricula. H.B. 666 on Tally
Source: H.B. 666 (2024)
- December 2, 2024Court
Matsumoto v. Labrador (9th Circuit)
Ruling on the 2023 trafficking law, the appeals court kept a block on the "recruiting" part, which it found likely violates the First Amendment, and let Idaho enforce the "harboring" and "transporting" parts. The case continues in district court.
Source: ABA Journal (Dec. 2024)
- March 2025Court
EMTALA case dropped; St. Luke’s case takes its place
On March 5, the Justice Department and Idaho filed to dismiss United States v. Idaho. St. Luke's Health System had already filed its own EMTALA suit, St. Luke's Health System v. Labrador, in January, and on March 20 Judge Winmill issued a preliminary injunction covering St. Luke's and its medical providers for emergency abortions EMTALA requires. That case is ongoing.
Sources: NPR (Mar. 6, 2025) · Georgetown Health Care Litigation Tracker: St. Luke’s v. Labrador
- April 4, 2025Law
Early dismissal for civil abortion lawsuits (S.B. 1171)
Amended the civil-lawsuit section (§18-8807) so a plaintiff must show the defendant more likely than not violated the Defense of Life Act, and lets a defendant ask the court for early review and dismissal of a meritless suit, modeled on Idaho's anti-SLAPP law, per the sponsors' statement. Effective July 1, 2025.
Final votes (yes-no-absent): Senate 32-1-2 · House 64-3-3
Sources: S.B. 1171 (2025) · S.B. 1171 on Tally
- April 11, 2025Court
Adkins v. State of Idaho ruling (4th District Court)
Judge Jason Scott held that the life exception covers abortions a physician judges in good faith to be needed to prevent the woman's death, even if death is not imminent or certain, but not risks of self-harm. He dismissed claims seeking exceptions for fatal fetal conditions and found no broader right to abortion in the Idaho Constitution. Both the plaintiffs and the attorney general's office described parts of the ruling as a win.
2026: Prop 1 and a federal health-exception case
- July 13, 2026Ballot
Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act qualifies for the ballot
The Secretary of State's office confirmed the citizen initiative, sponsored by Idahoans United for Women and Families, had enough valid signatures (70,725 were required). It is Proposition 1. On September 8 the Idaho Supreme Court approved the ballot statements state officials had redrafted.
Sources: KMVT (July 13, 2026) · Coeur d’Alene Press (Sept. 9, 2026)
- August 13, 2026Court
Dr. Stacy Seyb’s case (federal district court)
Judge Winmill held that Idaho cannot enforce its bans when continuing a pregnancy threatens the woman's physical health, or when her life is at risk from self-harm; the law still applies to fatal fetal conditions. The case was brought by Dr. Stacy Seyb, a Boise maternal-fetal medicine specialist. On August 25 he narrowed the order to apply only to Dr. Seyb, and on September 3 the 9th Circuit issued a temporary administrative stay while it considers the state's appeal. The appeal is pending.
Sources: Spokesman-Review (Aug. 27, 2026) · Boise State Public Radio (Sept. 3, 2026)
- November 3, 2026Ballot
Voters decide Proposition 1
A simple majority decides it. The ballot wording is below.
What Proposition 1 asks
Ballot wording, from the Idaho Voter Pamphlet
Measure creating right to abortion before fetus viability, and post-viability to protect health; right to privacy; healthcare provider liability protections.
Prop 1 is a statutory initiative: if it passes, it becomes a state law, which the Legislature can amend like any other. See who is funding each side.
Notes on common descriptions
Some summaries of Idaho's abortion laws that circulate online differ from the bill texts. Checked against the Legislature's records:
- 2015: H.B. 154 set conditions for abortion pills, including an in-person exam; it didn't ban them. The in-person and telehealth rules were repealed in 2017.
- The six-week law is from 2021 (H.B. 366). S.B. 1309, passed in 2022, added the civil lawsuits to it.
- The first-trimester limit on the rape/incest exception was added in 2023 by H.B. 374. The 2020 trigger law had no time limit, and its rape/incest and life provisions were defenses rather than exceptions.
- The 2023 trafficking law covers recruiting, harboring or transporting a minor within Idaho to obtain an abortion while concealing it from her parents, including for an abortion in another state. The recruiting part is blocked.
How this was compiled
Laws: bill text, statement of purpose and legislative history from legislature.idaho.gov; effective dates and enacting session laws from the history lines in Idaho Code. Votes are final passage votes shown as yes-no-absent.
Statements of purpose are written by a bill's sponsors; the Legislature notes they are not an expression of legislative intent.
Court rulings: the opinion where available, otherwise contemporaneous news reports, linked. Cases still in litigation are described only through the last confirmed order.
Laws that passed but are minor, technical or only restate earlier ones (for example, 2018 and 2019 changes to reporting requirements) are omitted. Every abortion-related bill since 2016 can be found through Tally's bill search.
Related
Idaho's four 2026 ballot measures, in the state's words · Who's funding Prop 1 · How Idaho laws are made
Tally Idaho is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates or ballot measures.