Supreme Court weighs scope of Idaho’s abortion ban in first post-Roe test

On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court, for the first time since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, examines the scope of a national ban on abortion and examines whether a federal law governing emergency care protects access to abortion in hospitals when a woman’s health is in danger.

Idaho’s Defense of Life law, which took effect in August 2022, bans almost all abortions except in reported cases of rape or incest or when “necessary to prevent the death of the the pregnant woman “.

The Biden administration sued the state, claiming its law conflicted with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) of 1986, which requires doctors in hospital emergency rooms receiving Medicare funds to offer “stabilizing treatment” to all patients whose health is threatened. .

The justices will decide whether EMTALA, which does not specifically address abortion, preempts Idaho’s abortion ban and similar measures in 20 other states, thereby protecting a doctor’s ability to terminate a pregnancy in an emergency if care requires it.

The administration contends that federal law makes clear that state laws are void to the extent they “directly conflict with a requirement” of EMTALA.

“EMTALA requires us, as physicians, to act in an emergency to preserve health – even the health of an organ system, like the reproductive system, for example,” said Dr. Jim Souza, chief medical officer from St. Luke’s Health System of Idaho. “Idaho law only allows action to save lives, not to preserve health.”

Idaho contends that Congress passed EMTALA solely to prevent hospitals from turning away indigent patients or discriminating against patients on the basis of their condition or status.

“EMTALA leaves the question of specific treatments to stabilize care to state law,” Idaho told the Court in its brief. “Indeed, EMTALA treats medical emergencies faced by a pregnant woman’s unborn child in the same way as emergencies faced by the mother herself.”

The state also argues that the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health – striking down the constitutional protection of abortion – explicitly referred the issue to the states. He accuses the administration of trying to “reimpose a federal abortion requirement.”

“The purpose of the law is to protect the lives of mothers and their unborn children,” said Dr. Ingrid Skop, a Texas-based obstetrician and vice president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an anti-abortion group. “All states allow physicians to use reasonable, good faith judgment about when to intervene. Abortion is rare, if ever necessary” in an emergency.

The stakes in this case are high.

“If the Court sides with Biden, it would be incredibly troubling and set a sweeping precedent,” said Katie Daniel, state policy director for SBA Pro-Life America.

Major U.S. medical organizations have warned that state bans on abortion without exceptions for pregnant women’s health could lead some women to suffer lasting harm.

“Before the law, we practiced medicine to preserve the mother’s health and future reproductive capacity. Since then, there have been a lot of doubts and hand-wringing,” Souza said. “Is she sick enough? Is she bleeding enough? Is she septic enough that I can have an abortion without going to jail or losing my license?”

Hospital groups have reported increased difficulty hiring obstetrician-gynecologists and emergency physicians in states like Idaho because of potential liability related to strict abortion laws, with few exceptions.

“This case could radically change the way emergency medicine is practiced in this country,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, an ACLU attorney who supports abortion rights.

“For nearly 40 years, EMTALA has required that every hospital with an emergency department that receives Medicaid funds provide stabilizing treatment to anyone who needs it, regardless of where they live,” he said. she declared. “No state law can force hospitals to provide substandard care. But now the court is deciding whether states can override that.”