Idaho’s biggest hospital says emergency flights for pregnant patients up sharply

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments about whether Idaho’s strict abortion ban applies to emergency situations. Since the ban went into effect, the state’s largest hospital system said the number of people needing flights out of Idaho for emergency abortions has risen sharply.

In 2023, Idaho’s ban on emergency abortions was put on hold by a federal court. St. Luke’s Health System said they only had to send one patient out of state for an emergency pregnancy termination that year. In January, the Supreme Court lifted the hold, and St. Luke’s said it had to airlift six patients to neighboring states for emergency pregnancy terminations in the following three months.

“If we annualize that, we can anticipate up to 20 patients needing out of state care this year alone,” said Dr. Jim Souza, chief physician at St. Luke’s.

Idaho’s law allows physicians to terminate pregnancies only to save the life of the mother, not to preserve her health. In 2022, a federal court said Idaho’s definition of a medical emergency may be too narrow, and put that part of the law on ho