The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Idaho to enforce its abortion ban while it considers whether emergency room doctors can legally use the procedure to stabilize patients.
A lower court has blocked Idaho’s ban on hospital emergency abortions after a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration argued that doctors must comply with the Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).
A 1986 federal law requires ER physicians to provide abortions when necessary as part of stabilizing treatment for emergency medical conditions.
The US Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance on the law two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and the Biden administration sued Idaho a month later.
“For certain medical emergencies, abortion care is necessary stabilization treatment,” Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in the Biden administration’s filing with the Supreme Court.
Idaho can enforce its abortion ban while the Supreme Court waits to hear the case, a high court judge ruled Friday. AP
The Biden administration sued Idaho in 2022, arguing that ER doctors must be allowed to perform abortions if necessary to stabilize patients. AP
Lower courts have reached conflicting rulings on whether states with near-total abortion bans can ban the procedure if it’s necessary to stabilize a patient in an emergency room setting.
US District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Idaho sided with the Biden administration, while in Texas, a panel of judges in the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that EMTALA does not compel doctors to provide abortions.
“EMTALA does not mandate medical care, let alone abortion care, nor does it preempt Texas law,” the three-judge panel — all appointed by the Republican president — concluded in the Texas case.
“We therefore decline to expand the scope of EMTALA,” the decision said.
Idaho’s abortion law punishes anyone who performs or assists in an abortion with up to five years in prison. It allows exceptions for situations where the woman’s life is in danger and for victims of rape and incest.
The high court will hear oral arguments in the case in April.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
