(Washington) The American Supreme Court with a conservative majority on Thursday once again authorized abortion in cases of medical emergency in Idaho, where it is almost completely prohibited, by dropping an appeal from the Republican authorities of this state.
Democratic President Joe Biden praised the decision in a statement, saying “no woman should be denied care, forced to wait until she is in mortal danger, or flee her state simply to receive the care she needs.” she needs “.
This decision was widely expected after the brief publication of a version of the document on Wednesday on the Court’s website, reported by the Bloomberg agency.
Three conservative and two progressive judges consider that the Court has “inopportunely granted” this appeal against a first instance decision, of which it therefore lifts the suspension, and sends the case back to the lower courts.
By its historic judgment of June 2022 annulling the federal guarantee of the right to abortion, the Court gave states full latitude to legislate in this area. Since then, around twenty have banned abortion, whether carried out by medication or surgery, or have strictly regulated it.
Among them, rural and conservative Idaho (northwest) only allows rare exceptions, such as in cases of incest or imminent danger of death for the pregnant woman. Outside of this framework, anyone performing an abortion risks up to five years in prison.
The federal law, called EMTALA, requires hospitals affiliated with the government health insurance Medicare – the majority of them – to treat anyone with a medical emergency.
But in January, the Supreme Court suspended the first instance decision while it ruled on the merits, therefore restoring the ban on abortion in Idaho in its full application.
After hearing arguments from both sides in April, the majority of judges now believe that it is up to the lower courts to decide.
“The arguments of the State of Idaho on the EMTALA law do not justify and have never justified either an emergency appeal or our early entry of this litigation,” writes progressive judge Elena Kagan.
This decision “will therefore prevent Idaho from enforcing its ban on abortion when the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to prevent serious harm to a woman’s health,” she specifies.
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett agrees, calling the court’s decision to take up the case at this point “a miscalculation, because the parties’ positions are still evolving.”
