Planned Parenthood of the Great Nw. & the Hawaiian Islands v. Wasden

350 F. Supp. 3d 925
CourtDistrict Court, D. Idaho
DecidedOctober 22, 2018
DocketCase No. 1:18-cv-00319-DCN
StatusPublished

This text of 350 F. Supp. 3d 925 (Planned Parenthood of the Great Nw. & the Hawaiian Islands v. Wasden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Idaho primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Planned Parenthood of the Great Nw. & the Hawaiian Islands v. Wasden, 350 F. Supp. 3d 925 (D. Idaho 2018).

Opinion

David C. Nye, U.S. District Court Judge *927I. OVERVIEW

Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands' ("Planned Parenthood") Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Dkt. 7. After holding oral argument, the Court took the motion under advisement. Upon review, the Court now issues the following decision DENYING the motion.

II. BACKGROUND

On July 1, 2018, the Abortion Complications Reporting Act ("the Act") went into effect in Idaho. Codified as Idaho Code section 39-9501 et seq., the Act requires that all medical providers who perform abortions-including hospitals, licensed health care facilities, and medical practitioners-file a written report with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare ("IDHW") concerning any direct or indirect complications stemming from an abortion.

Defendants ("the State") contend that the Act was implemented to collect valuable information about abnormal events that occur because of an abortion and that this information is necessary to protect public health and safety. Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, asserts that animus was the motivating factor behind the Act and that the reporting requirements are unconstitutional. Planned Parenthood now seeks a preliminary injunction enjoining the State from enforcing the Act during the pendency of this litigation.

III. LEGAL STANDARD

Plaintiffs seeking a preliminary injunction must establish that: (1) they are likely to succeed on the merits; (2) they are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief; (3) the balance of equities tips in their favor; and (4) an injunction is in the public interest. Short v. Brown , 893 F.3d 671, 675 (9th Cir. 2018) (internal citations omitted). The basic function of a preliminary injunction is to "preserve the status quo ante litem pending a determination of the action on the merits." Los Angeles Mem'l Coliseum Comm'n v. Nat'l Football League , 634 F.2d 1197, 1200 (9th Cir. 1980). A preliminary injunction should not be granted unless the movant, by a clear showing, carries the burden of persuasion." Towery v. Brewer , 672 F.3d 650, 657 (9th Cir. 2012) (citing Mazurek v. Armstrong , 520 U.S. 968, 972, 117 S.Ct. 1865, 138 L.Ed.2d 162 (1997) ). The Court will address each of the necessary elements for a preliminary injunction in turn.

IV. ANALYSIS

A. Success on the merits

Planned Parenthood proposes that the Act's constitutional violations fall into four main categories: vagueness, equal protection, due process, and null and void privacy requirements. In support of each proposition, Planned Parenthood discusses at length the various complications outlined in the Act and whether they are truly medical complications. In response, the State likewise spends a great deal of time discussing the finer points and nuances within the Act. These are assuredly valid arguments, and the details have been insightful to the Court, but at this stage of the litigation, the Court seeks to determine-broadly-whether *928there is sufficient evidence to support a finding in Plaintiff's favor. The details will be dealt with later in the litigation.

1. Vagueness

First, Planned Parenthood argues that the Act is unconstitutionally vague. In short, this is the crux of the case. Generally speaking, Planned Parenthood alleges that the Act is so confusing in what it requires, and so broad in its scope, that a reasonable person would have a difficult time understanding what they must do to adequately comply.

The Act requires that:

Every hospital, licensed health care facility or individual medical practitioner shall file a written report with the department regarding each woman who comes under the hospital's, health care facility's or medical practitioner's care and reports any complication, requires medical treatment or suffers death that the attending medical practitioner has reason to believe, in the practitioner's reasonable medical judgment, is a direct or an indirect result of an abortion.

Idaho Code § 39-9504(1). The Act further defines complication as "an abnormal or a deviant process or event arising from the performance or completion of an abortion, as follows:" and then lists 37 complications. Idaho Code § 39-9503(2) et seq.

Planned Parenthood contends that many of these so-called complications are not complications at all, but normal minor side effects,1 not true medical conditions,2 not specific to abortions,3 not possible in an abortion,4 not related to abortions,5 or almost all encompassing.6

Along with its concerns that many of the listed items bear little connection to abortions, Planned Parenthood contends that by saying a provider must report any of these issues if they arise "directly or indirectly" from an abortion, there is no way to know an appropriate timeframe-e.g. does an infection that arises a week later need to be reported-or what even qualifies as "indirect." Planned Parenthood provides the affidavit of Dr. A7 who states that the Act is so confusing, even as a medical professional, she has no idea what the Act actually requires [of her].

In response, the State asserts that Planned Parenthood has left out the crucial qualifying statement of the Act that requires that these complications only need be reported if "in the practitioner's reasonable medical judgment" they stemmed from an abortion.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

City of New Orleans v. Dukes
427 U.S. 297 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co.
428 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Bellotti v. Baird
428 U.S. 132 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Harris v. McRae
448 U.S. 297 (Supreme Court, 1980)
City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc.
473 U.S. 432 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Attorney General of New York v. Soto-Lopez
476 U.S. 898 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Clark v. Jeter
486 U.S. 456 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Heller v. Doe Ex Rel. Doe
509 U.S. 312 (Supreme Court, 1993)
County of Sacramento v. Lewis
523 U.S. 833 (Supreme Court, 1998)
M.R. v. Dreyfus
697 F.3d 706 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Robert Charles Towery v Janice K Brewer
672 F.3d 650 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
State v. GAMINO
230 P.3d 437 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 2010)
Mazurek v. Armstrong
520 U.S. 968 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Lazy Y Ranch Ltd. v. Behrens
546 F.3d 580 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
State v. Betterton
903 P.2d 151 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1995)
Jeffrey Short v. Edmund Brown, Jr.
893 F.3d 671 (Ninth Circuit, 2018)
Alliance for Wild Rockies v. Cottrell
632 F.3d 1127 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
350 F. Supp. 3d 925, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/planned-parenthood-of-the-great-nw-the-hawaiian-islands-v-wasden-idd-2018.