The US Supreme Court has ruled that the state of Idaho can enforce its abortion ban even in medical emergencies. This is the first ruling since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which struck down the right to abortion.
Idaho had passed a “trigger” law in 2020 banning abortion if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration sued Idaho, claiming that the Idaho law conflicted with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law that can require abortions in emergencies.
A lower court judge ruled in August 2022 that Idaho’s law could not prevent abortions in cases that would “seriously jeopardize” the mother’s health or cause “serious impairment of bodily functions.” But a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals suspended the lower court judge’s ruling on Thursday, stating that EMTALA “does not set standards of care or mandate the provision of certain procedures, such as abortion.”
This ruling allows Idaho’s law to take effect while the appeal is further analyzed. All three judges on the panel were appointed by former president Donald Trump, a Republican.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said in a statement that his office had worked to “ensure that Idaho’s sensible law continues to save babies’ lives and empowers medical professionals to use their judgment to help women in need of emergency care” and that he was “encouraged” by the decision. A spokesperson for the US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the law.
