How a Supreme Court case out of Idaho could reshape abortion law nationwide
The Supreme Court on Friday added a second major abortion case to its current term, agreeing to weigh in on a battle over Idaho’s abortion ban.
The law “makes it a crime with a prison term of up to five years for anyone who performs or assists in an abortion,” according to The Associated Press. It was set to take effect in August 2022, but that same month, a federal judge limited its application after the Biden administration sued to force changes to the policy.
The administration says that a federal policy called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act should outweigh state abortion bans when a pregnant woman’s life is in danger.
“The Biden administration has argued that hospitals that receive Medicare funds are required by federal law to provide emergency care, potentially including abortion, no matter if there’s a state law banning abortion,” The Associated Press reported.
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Idaho officials, as well as leaders in other conservative states, including Texas, say that the federal policy in question does not mandate abortion access.
“Emphasizing that nothing in EMTALA (the policy) mentions abortion, much less requires hospitals to perform them, the state and the legislature argued that EMTALA was simply enacted to ensure that hospital emergency rooms treat poor or uninsured patients — not to impose a federal standard of care for patients,” SCOTUSblog reported about Idaho’s claims.
On Friday, the Supreme Court did more than agree to hear the dispute. The justices also said that Idaho’s abortion ban could fully take effect while the lawsuit plays out, staying the injunction that has been in place since August 2022.
Last month, the Supreme Court added a separate abortion case to its schedule, as the Deseret News previously reported. In Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the justices will debate whether a pill commonly used to induce abortion can remain widely available across the country.
Both cases arose in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
The Supreme Court will hear the Idaho case in April. A decision is expected by the end of June.
