Physicians are expected to take the stand in Idaho’s capital on Tuesday to argue that the state’s near-total prohibition of abortion care is jeopardizing women’s health, forcing them to carry fetuses with deadly anomalies, and preventing doctors from intervening in potentially fatal medical emergencies.
Their testimony is scheduled to lead off the second week of a closely watched trial concerning one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans. The case, brought by four women, two physicians, and a group of medical professionals, seeks to limit the extent of the state’s ban, which prohibits abortion in almost all circumstances except to prevent a pregnant woman’s death, to stave off “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function,” or if the pregnancy was a result of a woman or girl being raped.
Over three days in district court last week, the women who brought the case shared emotional testimony about serious pregnancy complications that forced them out of state for medical care. That testimony drew objections from James Craig, an attorney with Idaho’s Office of the Attorney General, who interrupted the women frequently arguing that the details of their stories were not relevant.
Craig pushed back on assertions that Idaho’s criminal abortion laws are endangering women’s health care, while also casting abortion procedures in a negative light. Craig called abortion “barbaric and gruesome” in an opening statement.
“Abortion laws prevent unborn children from being exposed to pain,” he said.
At one point in the trial, Craig suggested that women could use any medical condition to sidestep the law, describing a scenario in which a pregnant woman who stepped on a rusty nail could claim she was at risk of infection and thus entitled to an abortion.
If the court finds in favor of the women, Craig said, “women [would] have a right to kill their unborn baby anytime it’s disabled, anytime they have an infection.”
During the plaintiffs’ testimony, as the women described what happened to their bodies during their pregnancies, Craig’s repeated objections drew reprimands from the 4th Judicial District Court judge overseeing the case, Jason Scott.
The patient plaintiffs’ testimony drew a warmer response from Scott, who said the women’s “circumstances are very worthy of sympathy.”
The case has drawn national attention to Idaho’s ban, one of the first enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. As it proceeds, abortion rights advocates are watching to see whether court challenges — including in other Republican-led states, such as Tennessee, where a similar case is ongoing — will be successful.
The plaintiffs in the case are not seeking to overturn the Idaho ban but rather to enact medical exceptions to the law. Their prospects are unclear, though a similar challenge in Texas did not fare well.
As the trial played out in a Boise courtroom, Jillaine St. Michel sat with her husband as they tended to their 10-month-old son. St. Michel had faced a pregnancy in which her fetus developed in devastating ways — a lack of leg and arm bones, a missing bladder, fused kidneys. She was barred from ending her pregnancy.
“We were told in the state of Idaho an abortion was not legal and my case was no exception,” she said.
Instead, the family drove to Seattle for an abortion, she said, to spare the fetus she carried from further torment.
“The state talks about how barbaric it is, they keep using that term,” St. Michel said. “The idea of allowing your child to experience suffering beyond what is necessary, to me that feels barbaric. To put myself through that when that is not something I desired, that feels barbaric. To have that ripple down into my ability to parent my existing child, that feels barbaric.”
Earlier this year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled against 20 women and two OB-GYNs, upholding that state’s criminal law that allows abortion only to prevent a pregnant patient’s death.
The court added one clarification ruling that abortions would be considered a crime when the amniotic sac breaks before 37 weeks of pregnancy, known as preterm premature rupture of membranes, because the condition can cause rapid and irreversible infection. That exception is not currently allowed in Idaho, and physicians who testified in the first week of the trial said they’d been forced to put their pregnant patients into cars and planes to receive abortions out of state.
In Idaho, a previous legal challenge to the state’s near-total abortion ban was rejected by the Idaho Supreme Court. In the case brought by Planned Parenthood, the justices wrote in a January 2023 ruling that the Idaho Constitution contains no right to an abortion, and that Idaho’s laws criminalizing abortion are constitutional.
This latest challenge, Adkins v. State of Idaho, comes on the heels of Donald Trump’s presidential victory. His Supreme Court appointments made way for the anti-abortion movement’s most vaunted goal of eliminating a woman’s constitutional right to abortion.
Advocates for abortion rights say that a loss in the case would close off options for challenging bans.
“If this isn’t successful, it’s not really clear if there are really additional places to go for help,” said Gail Deady, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy organization representing the plaintiffs.
Kayla Smith, one of the plaintiffs, sobbed during her testimony as she recalled suffering from preeclampsia during her pregnancy with her first child. When medication could not control the condition, physicians were concerned that the blood pressure disorder could cause Smith to have a stroke or seizure, so they induced birth early and Smith delivered a daughter, who is now 4 years old.
She told the court her second pregnancy seemed normal until a routine anatomy scan showed her son had multiple lethal heart defects. She and her husband had named him Brooks.
Idaho’s abortion ban had taken effect two days earlier and no longer allowed a physician to allow women such as Smith to end a pregnancy involving lethal fetal anomalies.
Her husband recalled the moment when their doctor, Kylie Cooper, delivered the diagnosis. “I remember finally asking just her if Brooks was going to be able to survive and Dr. Cooper, she broke down. And the three of us just cried. And I understood that we were helpless in Idaho at that point,” James Smith said.
Despite a frantic search, the Smiths could not find a fetal surgeon who would operate on Brooks. His heart could not be fixed.
“My son wasn’t going to survive,” Kayla said in an interview. “We wouldn’t bring a baby home. And we also didn’t want him to suffer, so we just decided to do the most compassionate thing for him and also for me.”
Idaho’s criminal abortion laws required either that Kayla stay pregnant until her condition deteriorated and an abortion would be needed to prevent her death or that she give birth to Brooks, who would not survive.
“I was not willing to watch my son suffer and gasp for air,” she said about the couple’s decision to end the pregnancy.
The Smiths drove with their toddler to Seattle, where physicians induced labor at about 20 weeks into her pregnancy and Kayla and James were able to hold Brooks, who did not survive.
Attorneys for the state of Idaho are expected to call one witness this week, Ingrid Skop, an OB-GYN anti-abortion advocate.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. This story also ran on NPR. It can be republished for free.
Read MoreA Venezuelan man has been convicted of murder in the killing of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, a case that fueled the national debate over immigration during this year’s presidential race.
Jose Ibarra was charged with murder and other crimes in Riley’s February death, and the guilty verdict was reached on Wednesday by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard. Ibarra, 26, had waived his right to a jury trial, meaning Haggard alone heard and decided the case.
Haggard found Ibarra guilty of all 10 counts against him: one count of malice murder; three counts of felony murder; and one count each of kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency call, evidence tampering and being a peeping Tom.
After reading the ruling, the judge said he was ready to proceed with sentencing immediately, but prosecutors asked for a break. The judge said he would proceed after an hour-long break.
Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. Ibarra could face life in prison.
Riley’s parents, roommates and other friends and family cried as the verdict was read. Ibarra didn’t visibly react.
The judge said that as he listened to the closing arguments, he wrote down on a legal pad two things the lawyers had said. He noted that prosecutor Sheila Ross called the evidence “overwhelming and powerful” and that defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck reminded him he was “required to set aside my emotions” in making his ruling.
The killing added fuel to the national debate over immigration when federal authorities said Ibarra illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 and was allowed to stay in the country while he pursued his immigration case.
The trial began Friday, and prosecutors called more than a dozen law enforcement officers, Riley’s roommates and a woman who lived in the same apartment as Ibarra. Defense attorneys called a police officer, a jogger and one of Ibarra’s neighbors on Tuesday and rested their case Wednesday morning.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that Ibarra encountered Riley while she was running on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22 and killed her during a struggle. Riley, 22, was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing, which also has a campus in Athens, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) east of Atlanta.
Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said in his opening that Riley’s death was a tragedy and called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing. But he said there was not sufficient evidence to prove that his client killed Riley.
Riley’s parents, roommates and other friends and family packed the courtroom throughout the trial.
Read MoreDEAR MISS MANNERS: My wife and I host an annual holiday dinner for a group of neighbors, one of whom has asked in the past if he could bring a guest. My wife, on our behalf, has always said yes.
Unfortunately, the guest is usually the neighbor’s on-again/off-again boyfriend, who is best described as obnoxious. During dinner, our neighbor frequently smirks condescendingly at his plus-one and winks at the rest of us. Ugh.
This neighbor accepted the invitation to dinner this year. My wife says the polite thing for her to do is to anticipate his request by telling him he can bring a guest. I say we should keep quiet to see if he asks.
Do the rules of etiquette come down on my wife’s side?
GENTLE READER: They do not — until the boyfriend becomes the husband, a neighbor or both. Waiting for the neighbor to ask for a second invitation is both sensible and permissible.
Should the boyfriend indeed be promoted, Miss Manners hopes it will at least lessen the likelihood of the now-husband mistreating you or one of your other guests: It would strengthen his position to the point that he might start objecting to the smirking and the condescension of his partner. But one problem at a time.
Please send your questions to Miss Manners at missmanners.com, by email to [email protected], or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.
Read MoreA Brooklyn businessman has different ideas on what to do with the S.S. United States, which currently remains docked in Philadelphia as it prepares for its journey down to Mobile to become the world’s largest artificial reef.
John Quadrozzi Jr., concrete magnate and owner of the Gowanus Bay Terminal in Brooklyn, recently told Gothamist that he would like to turn the vessel into a sustainable “floating ecosystem.”
“Coworking space, incubators. Preferably things that are more maritime and environmentally focused…The vessel is just filled with small spaces in it, which would be ideal for that type of use,” he said.
“It gets built up in increments. There are residences. There are commercial spaces. There are industrial spaces.”
Quadrozzi and his backer Dan McSweeney, co-founder of a conservancy dedicated to the S.S. United States, who recently pitched an idea to turn the ship into a floating affordable housing complex docked on the Hudson River, are rushing to stop the ship before it disembarks for Mobile.
It was previously scheduled to depart on Nov. 14 but was delayed due to weather concerns. Officials have not announced a new date for the ship to be moved.
Once the date is reset, it will take roughly two weeks for tugboats to tow the ship down to Mobile.
In Mobile, contractors will begin the process of ensuring it is safe for ocean life and poking holes in its hull to make it land upright at the bottom of the Gulf.
This process is predicted to take a year to complete after which the ship will take its final journey to a location about 20 miles south of the Florida Panhandle region in the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area, according to the Okaloosa County Commission.
But Quadrozzi said he is not confident the ship can make it down to the shore for its rework.
“Taking a vessel like that magnitude out into the deep sea and around the horn of Florida, the likelihood of it even making it there is questionable,” he told Gothamist.
Although Quadrozzi is still working to find a way to keep the ship up in the Northeast, Okaloosa County officials say he has not reached out to them. Currently, their plan for the S.S. United States remains unchanged.
“I’m not familiar with that gentleman and what he has going on in Brooklyn,” Nick Tomecek, a Okaloosa County spokesperson, told Gothamist.
“I do know Okaloosa County has purchased this vessel for the use of the world’s largest artificial reef.”
Originally designed as a top-secret, convertible troop carrier during the Cold War in 1951, the S.S. United States has transported presidents, famous actors, heads of state, tourists, members of the armed forces, and immigrants before it was retired in 1969.
Notable passengers included four U.S. Presidents (Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, and a young Bill Clinton), Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, and John Wayne.
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Could horse racing return to Alabama?
This week’s announcement that Wind Creek Hospitality is acquiring the Birmingham Race Course has some horse owners optimistic that thoroughbreds might once again compete, 29 years after the last race in the Magic City.
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Read MoreJay Leno fell down a 60-foot hill, breaking a wrist and is now “black and blue.”
The former “Tonight Show” host suffered bruising to the left side of his face during the accident over the weekend.
The 74-year-old, who is sporting a patch over his left eye, told “Inside Edition” that he had been staying at a Hampton Inn outside of Pittsburgh on Saturday night. He fell while he walking to a restaurant close to the hotel.
Leno said he broke his wrist and lost a fingernail.
Leno told TMZ he didn’t have a car and decided to take a shortcut.
“The hill doesn’t look that steep – about 60, 70 feet,” he told TMZ. “Let me see if I can down there… (he screams) and then I fell down, boom, boom, boom.”
Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.
Read MoreDue to recent rainfall across the state, higher humidity, and cooler temps., the Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) has lifted the statewide Fire Danger Advisory issued in late October.
“The chance of significant wildfire potential has decreased,” the AFC said in a recent release.
“There are still underlying drought conditions for the state of Alabama, so the AFC will continue to monitor the situation and will reissue an advisory if needed.”
AFC officials previously said these ongoing drought conditions are due to abnormally warm and dry weather leading into November that resulted in increasing wildfire potential and resistance to control, particularly in forests impacted by drought and beetle kill.
“The AFC urges anyone conducting outdoor burning to follow safety recommendations such as not leaving a fire unattended until it is out (cold to the touch), having the necessary equipment and personnel to control the fire, and having a garden hose or water supply on hand for smaller debris burns,” the release said.
“The agency also recommends using extreme caution and staying aware of local weather updates.”
Read MoreA viral phenom who broke the Internet and a standup champ with “SNL” clout are coming to Birmingham, promising big laughs in very different ways.
Comedy shows by Matt Rife and Jim Gaffigan were announced this week, giving the city’s 2025 concert calendar an extra dose of stardom. Here’s what you need to know.
Matt Rife, a viral comedian known for his crowd work, is set to perform on June 22, 2025, at the Coca-Cola Amphitheater in Birmingham.(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Rife, a controversial comedian with a devoted following, is set to perform on June 22, 2025, at the Coca-Cola Amphitheater, Birmingham’s new $46 million concert venue. The 9,380-seat amphitheater, 2350 15th Ave. North, is under construction and expected to be ready for concerts in mid- to late June.
Tickets for Rife’s 7:30 p.m. show go on sale Friday, Nov. 22, at 12 p.m. CT via Live Nation/Ticketmaster, after a round of pre-sales that start on Wednesday at noon. Prices are $39.50, $59.50, $79.50, $99.50 and $149.50, plus service charges, according to promoter Live Nation.
The Birmingham date is part of Rife’s “Stay Golden” tour, which runs from March through December 2025, stopping in more than 30 cities. (See all of Rife’s tour dates here.)
Rife, 29, made his Birmingham debut in October 2023, playing two-sold out dates at the BJCC Concert Hall. He followed that with a show in June 2024 at the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville. Rife has been catapulted to fame over the past few years, mostly due to TikTok videos that focus on his interactions with the audience, known as “crowd work.”
He became such a sensation, fans flooded the internet to buy tickets to Rife’s 2023 tour dates, causing the Ticketmaster site to crash. Rife now has more than 30 million followers across social media, with 19.1 million followers on TikTok and close to 9 million followers on Instagram. His career has moved beyond social media, as well.
“He also released a wildly popular, controversial Netflix special, ‘Natural Selection,’ which kicked off with a domestic violence gag — and garnered over 10.3 million views in its first two weeks when it dropped in 2023,” The Hollywood Reporter says. “The streaming platform swiftly signed him up for two more, along with a gym/workplace sitcom that he intends to write and star in.
“More recently, Rife delivered the first of those specials, ‘Lucid,’ which marked Netflix’s first-ever crowd work special. It dropped in August, and quickly entered the 10 top in 37 countries. Looking ahead, he has a memoir, which he’s titled ‘Your Mom’s Gonna Love Me,’ and the beginnings of a film career. The latter includes ‘Rolling Loud,’ an R-rated comedy co-produced by Live Nation Productions and American High, which is set for release in 2025.”
Rife’s bad-boy image is showcased in a NSFW promo video for his tour, released this week and spoofing drug use and sex. The 1:40 clip also touts his career trajectory, noting that he’s played “almost 700 shows in two years.” It also says Rife’s life has been “full of some extreme highs” and “some extreme lows.”
Jim Gaffigan, left, served as emcee for the 79th Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in October 2024 in New York City. The comedian is set to perform in Birmingham at the BJCC Concert Hall in 2025.(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Gaffigan, a comedy veteran with eight Grammy nominations to his credit, is scheduled to perform on Feb. 19, 2025, at the BJCC Concert Hall in Birmingham. The venue, which seats about 3,000 people, is part of the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex at 2100 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. North.
Tickets for Gaffigan’s 7 p.m. show go on sale Friday, Nov. 22, at 10 a.m. CT via Ticketmaster, after a round of pre-sales that start on Wednesday at 10 a.m. CT. Prices are TBA.
The Birmingham date is part of Gaffigan’s “Everything is Wonderful!” tour, which starts on Jan. 31 and runs through Oct. 25. He’s also doing some co-headlining dates in 2025 with Jerry Seinfeld. (See all of Gaffigan’s tour dates here.)
Gaffigan, 58, recently drew kudos for his folksy portrayal of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — Kamala Harris’ Democratic running mate in the 2024 presidential election — during the 50th anniversary season of “Saturday Night Live.”
”Essentially I’m portraying my brother Mitch, who lives in Indiana, who has a very Chicago accent,” Gaffigan told comedians Dana Carvey and David Spade on a November episode of their podcast, ”Superfly.”
Gaffigan has a long and distinguished history as a comedian, dating back to the early 1990s. His career has included standup dates, tours, appearances on late-night TV, comedy specials, albums, books and a plethora of movie and TV roles.
Gaffigan also was the emcee for this year’s Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a high-profile event attended by US. political figures, religious leaders and business executives. The dinner on Oct. 17 raised $8.9 million for charities that help needy children in New York, according to the foundation website.
Gaffigan is no stranger to Birmingham, performing in the city several times over the years. He also stopped in Orange Beach and Tuscaloosa in 2019, on his “Quality Time” tour.
In a 2019 feature story for AL.com, Ben Flanagan described Gaffigan as “a global success thanks to his spin on observational humor on fatherhood, food and much more.” Gaffigan made his fame with “clean comedy,” avoiding profanity in his jokes and offering self-deprecating quips about his laziness, family life and religion.
“My view is that my jokes, while they might be about my faith or Christianity, they’re really making fun of humans,” Gaffigan told AL.com in 2019. “I’m definitely not questioning someone’s faith. It helps also that my wife [Jeannie] has received early admissions to heaven. I come from a small town in Indiana, so I don’t think personality-wise I’m trying to say things to upset anyone. It’s not to say I don’t challenge people. You’ve got to keep it interesting. My comedy isn’t constructed on shock or discomfort.”
READ: Jim Gaffigan on God, comedy, college football and of course, food
Gaffigan has 1.7 million followers on Facebook, 1.4 million followers on Instagram, 1.1 million followers on TikTok and nearly 1 million subscribers on YouTube.
Several other comedians are on the calendar for Birmingham in 2025, including Legacy Arena dates from Martin Lawrence with Rickey Smiley, Jan. 18; Kat Williams; Feb. 8; Mike Epps and Kountry Wayne, March 15; Shane Gillis, April 26; and Dude Perfect, July 20.
The BJCC Concert Hall will present the Bored Teachers: The Struggle Is Real! Comedy Tour, March 14; the Legends of Laughter featuring Sommore, Lavell Crawford and friends, April 11; and Ali Siddiq, June 14.
The Alabama Theatre agenda includes Joe Gatto, Jan. 10; and Brad Williams, July 12. The Lyric Theatre will see performances by Dusty Slay, Jan. 17; Heather McMahan, Feb. 7-8; Sam Morril, Feb 19; Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, April 2; and Stavros Halkias, April 7.
READ: How Alabama native Dusty Slay became the hottest comedian on Netflix
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