Today the Supreme Court issued their long-awaited ruling in the Idaho abortion case. Idaho hospitals are now allowed to provide abortions in emergency situations, in spite of the state’s abortion ban, for the time being.
Given that the ruling was procedural in nature, it did did leave “key questions unanswered and could mean the issue ends up before the conservative-majority court again soon,” the AP noted.
Similar to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, the decision was also leaked beforehand, and quickly taken off the website. With a 6-3 vote, the high court reversed an earlier ruling allowing Idaho’s abortion ban to be in place, even in the case of medical emergencies under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).
Three of the conservative-leaning justices, Chief Justice John Roberts as well as Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, aligned with three liberals, Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, to form the majority. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas dissented
It is important to note that this “opinion did not permanently resolve whether Idaho acted within its rights, or whether the state law is pre-empted by EMTALA.” Instead, the court merely “retreated from a previous ruling that had temporarily allowed Idaho’s law to take effect, meaning that emergency abortions were illegal in the state if they were to save a mother’s health, but not her life,” NPR reports.
In both the Idaho case at hand here and the Texas mifepristone abortion medication decision, the court has somewhat preserved abortion access. But Democratic legislators are still concerned about protecting the right to abortion nationwide.
Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has been a leading voice for the party on reproductive health care policies. “Even with EMTALA still in place for now in Idaho — Republican abortion bans continue to have a dangerous chilling effect,” said Murray.
Xavier Becerra, Secretary for U.S. Health and Human Services released a statement, reading in part “The Court’s order today means women in Idaho should once again have access to the emergency care that they need while the case proceeds in the lower courts. However, it does not change the fact that reproductive freedom is under attack. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to protecting access to emergency medical care for everyone in America and ensuring that women get the care they need.”
This decision puts abortion back in the spotlight as we head into the months preceding November’s presidential election, and tonight’s debate between President Biden and former President Trump.
According to a Biden campaign official, there will be an abortion-focused advertisement aired during a commercial break amidst tonight’s presidential debate, per CNN. In the ad, Dr. Lauren Miller states, “These laws are truly barbaric. They are putting us back decades, if not centuries…Donald Trump did this. He put women’s lives in danger.”
