Supreme Court publishes draft opinion showing an unexpected win for abortion rights: report
WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court may be about to allow emergency abortions in Idaho, according to a copy of the pending opinion obtained by Bloomberg News.
The version that appeared briefly on the court’s website would reinstate a lower court order that had allowed hospitals to perform abortions needed to protect the health of the mother.
A majority planned to dismiss the case as “improvidently granted,” Bloomberg reported.
While the litigation would continue, the opinion would be a temporary win for the Biden administration, which had challenged Idaho's strict abortion ban. The administration argued abortions are the standard of care in some situations under a federal law that requires hospitals provide emergency treatment regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.
That underlying issue would still need to be resolved. But the court would reverse its January decision that allowed Idaho to fully enforce its ban in the meantime.
Still, the response from some abortion rights advocates was less than enthusiastic.
Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, said she agrees with the reported views of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson that the decision is not a victory, but a delay.
Fatima Goss Graves, who heads the National Women’s Law Center, said the opinion appears to leave the door open for the Supreme Court to end emergency abortion care in the coming months or years.
More: The miscarriage was inevitable. Could she have had an ER abortion? Supreme Court to decide.
“It is only a small measure of justice that for now people in Idaho can continue to access the care that they need,” she said.
A spokesperson for the court, Patricia McCabe, said in a statement that no opinion has been released in the two related appeals.
"The Court’s Publications Unit inadvertently and briefly uploaded a document to the Court’s website," McCabe said. "The Court’s opinion in these cases will be issued in due course."
Since Idaho and other states tightened abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, doctors have said they can’t treat women who might lose organs or their reproductive ability, have uncontrollable bleeding or suffer other serious health consequences without an abortion − unless her life is clearly in danger.
More: Supreme Court arguments: Does Idaho abortion ban conflict with federal law?
Women in need of emergency care have had to travel to other states for abortions or wait until they’ve gotten sick enough that a doctor won’t fear violating a state ban.
During oral arguments in April, Idaho Solicitor General Joshua Turner said hospitals don’t have to wait until the mother is on the verge of death before intervening. But he acknowledged under questioning from Justice Amy Coney Barrett that a prosecutor might not agree with a doctor’s “good faith” assessment that life-saving care is necessary.
Medical providers who violate Idaho's law can be imprisoned and lose their license.
The 1986 federal law at issue, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), was one of the few tools President Joe Biden had to respond to the court’s elimination of the national right to an abortion.
More: Biden announces steps to protect abortion access, but advocates urge him to do more
Biden directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to make it clear doctors must provide abortions if needed in emergency situations to prevent death or serious illness.
Texas challenged that directive while the Justice Department challenged Idaho’s law.
The Louisiana-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas and the California-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Biden administration.
The Supreme Court in January allowed Idaho to fully enforce its law while it considered the issue.
Most voters (62%) support a federal right to abortion, according to an April survey from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy group.
The combined cases are Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court Idaho abortion case draft opinion published: report
