The Supreme Court made a 5-4 decision on June 27, 2024, to protect access to emergency abortions in all states. This ruling reinstates lower court rulings that temporarily allowed hospitals in states with an active ban to perform emergency abortions. The decision was met with dissent from three conservative justices: Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas. The Idaho case is expected to put abortion back into the political limelight as a major controversy before the presidential election.
According to NPR, the Supreme Court temporarily allowed emergency abortions in Idaho on June 13, 2024, to protect the life and health of mothers. This decision reinstates a lower court ruling that temporarily allowed hospitals in Idaho to perform emergency abortions. The case will now return to a federal district court judge for further litigation.
Fox News reported that the Supreme Court ruled on June 27, 2024, that doctors in Idaho must provide emergency abortions despite the state's near-total ban to comply with federal law. The matter will continue to be litigated on the merits in lower courts and could end up back before the Supreme Court in the future.
The New York Times reported that a majority of justices dismissed a case about emergency abortions in Idaho, reinstating a lower-court ruling that halted Idaho's near-total ban on abortion and permitted emergency abortions at hospitals if needed to protect the health of the mother while the case makes its way through the courts.
These rulings come after Idaho's Defense of Life Act made it a crime for any medical provider to perform an abortion with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.
