The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, allowing abortions to be performed in Idaho for now when pregnant women face medical emergencies. This decision was made without resolving the case’s core issues. The 6-3 ruling saw three of the six conservative justices dissenting, reinstating a lower court’s decision that Idaho’s near-total abortion ban must yield to a federal law from 1986 known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) when the two statutes conflict.
This ruling temporarily prioritizes EMTALA over Idaho’s stringent abortion laws. EMTALA mandates that hospitals receiving federal Medicare funds provide emergency care to patients. Idaho is one of six states with strict abortion bans that do not include exceptions to protect pregnant women’s health.
President Joe Biden’s administration sued Idaho, arguing that EMTALA should take precedence over state law. “Today’s Supreme Court order ensures that women in Idaho can access the emergency medical care they need while this case returns to the lower courts,” Biden said in a statement. He emphasized that no woman should be denied care or forced to leave her state for necessary healthcare, a situation exacerbated since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had established a constitutional right to abortion.
Biden has made abortion rights a key issue in his re-election campaign, using it to challenge Republicans in elections nationwide. Former President Donald Trump, a Republican candidate for the upcoming election, appointed three of the justices who were part of the majority in the 2022 decision. Trump has stated that he supports exceptions for rape, incest, and to protect the mother’s life in states with abortion bans, and he backs the availability of in-vitro fertilization.
The Supreme Court’s latest decision, an unsigned, one-line order, lifted a block placed on the lower court’s ruling in January but did not resolve the underlying legal dispute. Instead, the case was dismissed as “improvidently granted.” Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson agreed with lifting the stay but criticized the dismissal, describing the situation as a “fragile detente.” She expressed disappointment that the court missed an opportunity to provide clarity and certainty.
In 2022, a draft of the Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade was leaked, leading to a significant political and legal fallout. This latest ruling marks another chapter in the ongoing debate over abortion rights in the United States.
Idaho’s abortion law, a “trigger” law adopted in 2020, automatically took effect upon Roe’s reversal. It bans nearly all abortions unless necessary to prevent the mother’s death, threatening doctors who violate it with prison time and loss of their medical license. EMTALA, on the other hand, requires hospitals to stabilize patients with emergency medical conditions, which can include performing abortions to prevent severe health risks.
In 2022, Boise-based U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill blocked Idaho’s law enforcement in cases where abortions are needed to avoid serious health risks to women. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll indicated strong public support for allowing abortions in medical emergencies, with 82% of registered voters, including a majority of Democrats and Republicans, in favor of such exceptions.
This ruling highlights the ongoing tension and evolving legal landscape surrounding abortion rights in the United States, reflecting broader societal and political divides.
