Idaho: Supreme Court allows abortions not covered by state law

The Supreme Court ruled that Idaho hospitals that receive federal funds must allow abortion care on grounds not covered by state law.

"Hospitals in Idaho that receive federal funds must allow emergency abortion care to stabilize patients even though the state strictly bans the procedure, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday," explained The Washington Post.

The ruling was upheld by the court after a document mistakenly posted on the court's website with the decision was leaked earlier in the day.

First to report the document was Bloomberg Law, which was able to save a copy of the file before it was removed.

The Biden administration criticized Idaho's post-Dobbs abortion legislation in 2022, before the ban on such interventions even went into effect, claiming that it "could use [the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor and Delivery Act (EMTALA)] to ... force emergency room doctors from offering abortions that are illegal in Idaho."

Attorney General Paul Labrador appealed, claiming that "the whole point of Dobbs was to restore to the states their authority to regulate abortion. Yet the administration seeks to thwart Idaho’s exercise of self-government on this important topic."

In addition, Labrador criticized the Biden administration's "claimed abortion mandate" and stressed that "The Medicare Act generally — and EMTALA specifically — preserve the right of states to regulate the practice of medicine, including on the issue of abortion."