The Supreme Court will allow emergency abortions in Idaho, according to an opinion released Thursday, a day after it was accidentally and briefly posted to the court’s website.
The court’s 6-3 decision lifted a January stay on a lower court ruling allowing emergency abortions in Idaho, while litigation over the state’s controversial abortion law continues. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented.
Idaho enacted one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans after the Supreme Court struck down abortion rights nationwide in 2022. The state not only prohibits abortion at conception, but also prohibits abortion performed to protect the health of pregnant women. Abortion is only allowed if it is “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.”
The Department of Justice quickly be accused Idaho argued that the state’s abortion ban violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Affirmative Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law that requires many hospitals to provide stable care to patients who come to emergency rooms seeking help.
“Idaho law criminalizes a physician’s compliance with EMTALA’s requirement to provide stabilizing care, even if the physician determines that the abortion is a medical treatment necessary to prevent the patient from suffering a serious health risk,” the lawsuit states. “In addition to the care necessary to prevent death, , the law provides no defense when a pregnant woman’s health is at risk, and it provides no defense even in dire circumstances that may meet Idaho law’s limited “necessary conditions to prevent the death of a pregnant woman.”
A federal district court judge in Idaho issued a preliminary injunction in August 2022 on portions of the Idaho law. wrote. “The court was asked to address a more modest question—whether Idaho’s criminal abortion statute conflicts with a small but important portion of federal legislation. It does.”
Idaho appealed, and the Supreme Court reversed the ban in January, allowing the law to be enforced while the legal battle continues.
“The impact on the ground was immediate,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in Thursday’s unanimous opinion. “To ensure appropriate medical care is provided, the state’s largest emergency service providers must fly pregnant women out of Idaho approximately every other week, up from just once last year (when the ban was in effect).”
In a ruling Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Idaho, allowing doctors to provide health-protecting abortions in the state while the case continues.
“With the denial of this court’s writ of certiorari, the lower courts may proceed with the action under normal procedures. With this court’s stay revoked, the district court’s preliminary injunction will again be in effect,” wrote Kagan. “This would prevent Idaho from enforcing an abortion ban when termination of a pregnancy is necessary to prevent serious damage to a woman’s health.”
