Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced Thursday that his office has appealed a federal district court ruling that blocks enforcement of the state's near-total abortion ban in cases where pregnancy threatens a woman's physical health or risks death from self-harm.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill issued the decision last week in a lawsuit brought by Boise maternal-fetal medicine specialist Dr. Stacy Seyb. The ruling prevents prosecutors from enforcing Idaho's Defense of Life Act when a physician determines in good faith that continuing the pregnancy poses a non-negligible risk of serious and lasting harm to the woman's health or could lead to her death from self-harm.

Labrador described the order as judicial overreach that contradicts the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. That ruling returned authority over abortion policy to the states and their elected representatives.

"Dobbs made clear that abortion policy belongs to the people and their elected state representatives, not the judiciary," Labrador said in a statement from his office. "A federal judge has replaced Idaho's law with his own abortion standard."

The attorney general's office filed a notice of appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and an emergency motion seeking to stay the injunction while the appeal proceeds. Labrador argued that the district court's broad injunction exceeds its authority and conflicts with Supreme Court precedent limiting universal injunctions.

Idaho's law, enacted in 2020 and effective after Dobbs, prohibits most abortions but includes exceptions for medical emergencies. Labrador has maintained that the statute already permits doctors to treat life-threatening conditions without fear of prosecution.

The underlying case challenges the application of the ban to high-risk pregnancies. Seyb, represented by the Lawyering Project and Legal Voice, contended that the restrictions unconstitutionally limit care for patients facing serious health risks.

Winmill sided with the plaintiff on health and self-harm claims but upheld the ban in cases involving fatal fetal anomalies. The appeal now moves the dispute to the Ninth Circuit, where briefing is scheduled to begin in November.

The development continues ongoing litigation over Idaho's post-Dobbs abortion restrictions, which have been tested in multiple state and federal courts.