- Court hears arguments on Idaho case on medical emergency abortions
- Biden administration believes Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act trumps state abortion law in some cases
- Pro- and anti-abortion protesters gathered in front of the Supreme Court
Protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court Wednesday as the justices heard a case on whether emergency rooms can perform abortions in medical emergencies in states where abortion is banned.
Oral arguments are held in Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States.
It’s the first time the nation’s highest court will hear arguments on the scope of state abortion bans after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, sending the abortion issue back to the states.
The Biden administration maintains that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) can, in limited circumstances, supersede state law that criminalizes abortion.
But Idaho rejects that argument, saying it is a federal power grab and that the law does not require doctors to provide specific medical treatments or require hospitals to perform abortions.
This is the second abortion-related case the Supreme Court has heard in recent weeks, after hearing arguments about the abortion drug mifepristone.
Pro-abortion rights protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court Wednesday ahead of arguments on whether Idaho’s abortion ban conflicts with federal EMTALA.
Anti-abortion activist holding sign ahead of debates on Idaho’s near-total abortion ban
Pro- and anti-abortion protesters clash outside the Supreme Court ahead of Wednesday’s proceedings
Wednesday morning, in front of the Supreme Court, demonstrators for and against the right to abortion gathered.
Some pro-abortion rights demonstrators held signs reading “abortion is health care” and “abortion saves lives,” while others attacked the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v Wade in 2022.
Some demonstrators dressed in white and covered in fake blood even participated in a “die-in” in favor of access to abortion in emergency rooms.
Anti-abortion protesters carried signs reading “emergency rooms are not abortion clinics.”
Pro-abortion activists participate in a “die-in” in front of the Supreme Court
An anti-abortion activist in front of the Supreme Court Wednesday as the court hears arguments on Idaho’s law that bans abortion in almost all situations.
A pro-abortion activist stands in front of the Supreme Court Wednesday morning
A group of doctors joins pro-abortion activists who participated in a “die-in” before the Supreme Court as it heard arguments in the case Idaho v. United States.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe with the Dobbs decision in 2022 ending the constitutional right to abortion, Idaho was one of more than a dozen states that immediately took action to ban abortion. abortion with limited exceptions.
Idaho law makes it a crime to perform an abortion, except in very specific circumstances, including to save the life of the mother, in cases of rape or incest.
The case in question began nearly two years ago when the Biden administration filed a lawsuit. He argued that EMTALA could be used in some specific cases in the state because it requires emergency rooms to provide “necessary stabilization treatment.”
A district court agreed and blocked Idaho’s law from taking effect in August 2022 because the ban conflicted with EMTALA.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the state’s request to stay the district court’s decision during the appeals process.
The state and its Republican-controlled legislature then took the case to the Supreme Court.
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