Supreme Court to allow emergency abortions in Idaho

[MrDawn]

What are your thoughts?

The Supreme Court would allow emergency abortion care in Idaho for now despite the state’s restrictions on the procedure, according to a copy of a not-yet-released opinion posted by Bloomberg Law after it briefly appeared on the court’s website Wednesday.

The decision, which has not been announced, would mean that while litigation makes its way through the courts, hospitals could perform emergency abortions to stabilize patients without being subject to prosecution under Idaho’s abortion ban.

Although the justices did not rule on the merits of the case, their decision amounts to at least a temporary victory for the Biden administration, which has struggled to protect abortion access since the high court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.

According to a copy of the opinion, the court’s ruling would reinstate a lower court decision that had allowed emergency abortion care while the case continues. The court had paused that lower court ruling months ago, in an emergency action, before hearing arguments in the matter in April.

It is extremely rare — perhaps unprecedented — for a Supreme Court ruling to be posted on the court’s website before the ruling is issued, and it is possible that the document that was posted could differ from the opinion when it is announced. The momentous decision overturning Roe, known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was also made public early, in that case through a leak to the news organization Politico.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/26/supreme-court-emergency-abortions-idaho-decision/

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Supreme court dismisses case blocking emergency abortions in Idaho
The supreme court has dismissed a case that sought to block emergency abortions in Idaho, a state with a near-total abortion ban.

The court’s decision marks a win for the Joe Biden administration, for now, as the case is returned to a lower court and potentially delays a final decision until after the election.

Idaho had tried to have the procedure exempted from the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.

The court’s 6-3 decision, which came after a version of the ruling was prematurely posted on to its website yesterday, reinstates a lower court’s decision that EMTALA takes precedence over Idaho’s abortion ban.

Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas were in the minority opinion.