SCOTUS Allows Idaho Hospitals to Perform Abortion in Medical Emergencies, Does Not Address the Issue for Hospitals Nationwide

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that, for now at least, hospitals in Idaho can provide emergency abortions where the woman’s health is at serious risk. The court declined to rule at this time on the wider issue of whether abortions in medical emergencies can generally be carried nationwide.

The case arose when the Biden administration filed suit against Idaho’s abortion ban, arguing the state should allow the procedure in medical emergencies. While Idaho countered that its ban allows for life-saving abortions, the suit argued that women should not have to wait until they are nearly dead to receive the care they need.

Voting 6-3, the high court reversed its own earlier order which had allowed Idaho’s total abortion ban, even in medical emergencies, to go into effect. The earlier order was mistakenly posted on the court’s website on Wednesday and was quickly taken down again.

Concerning the high court’s refusal to address the central issue of allowing abortion in medical emergencies nationwide now, conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett said the Supreme Court’s reversal of its own order showed the two sides’ positions “are still evolving” and the law needs to be addressed and developed in the lower courts first.

Disagreeing with Justice Barret, liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote: “While this court dawdles and the country waits, pregnant people experiencing emergency medical conditions remain in a precarious position. This court had a chance to bring clarity and certainty to this tragic situation, and we have squandered it.”

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