like I accidentally previewed it Wednesday, Supreme Court Thursday Decided to allow emergency abortions Continue in Idaho. Instead of deciding Moil vs. America On the merits—where federal law requires emergency room doctors to specify that they can provide abortions to stabilize pregnant patients—the court dismissed the case as “negligently permitted.” That means they should never have accepted it in the first place while the lawsuit was pending. They are sending the case back to the lower courts. It also reinstated a preliminary injunction requiring Idaho to allow abortions during major health crises.
It's kicking the can down the road. A cynic might say conservatives are delaying a decision on saving pregnant women's lives until after the election for political reasons, to avoid a repeat of the Dobbs debacle in 2022. Maybe they're right.
The decision, 5-4, with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining Justices Sonya Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dismisses the dispute for now. That means pregnant patients in Idaho won’t have to be airlifted out of state for abortions to save their health and lives, because doctors there won’t have to worry about being prosecuted for saving them. It’s a small relief for Idaho doctors.
“This tiny little spin-off allows us to provide care as doctors in very specific scenarios and hopefully not out-of-state Life Flight people. So they may go somewhere else to get the care we can easily provide here, but that doesn't solve the problem. This is where our problem comes in,” Dr. Loren Colson told the Idaho Capital Sun. “There are still huge problems with access to abortion.”
At least 6 pregnant patients Some people have flown out of Idaho for abortions since the Supreme Court lifted a moratorium on Idaho's emergency abortion ban in January.
Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson acknowledged this. partial opposition. She wanted to make a decision on the merits now. “[T]o Be clear. Today's decision is not a victory for Idaho's pregnant patients. It’s a delay,” she wrote. “While this court dawdles and the state waits, pregnant women experiencing medical emergencies remain in a precarious position because their doctors are unaware of what the law requires.”
This court had an opportunity to bring clarity and certainty to this tragic situation, and we squandered it. And as long as we refuse to declare what the law requires, pregnant patients in Idaho, Texas and elsewhere will pay the price. We respectfully disagree because we need to give them and the state answers to the simple preemption questions presented in this case.
Also on the other side of the vote in favor of female torture were Justices Samuel Alito, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch. Alito is generally cynical and sarcastic toward his colleagues, and is said to be too “emotional” about issues. “[T]“The court has simply lost the will to adjudicate the easy but emotional and highly politicized issues this case raises,” he wrote.
Slate's Mark Joseph Stern write, his opposition is “unflinching in its cruel disregard for women’s health. For example, he acknowledged that Idaho’s ban may force doctors to wait until pregnant patients present a ‘risk of infection and serious sepsis’ before aborting failed pregnancies.”
The case is expected to return to court as litigation continues. Unless something dramatic changes happens on the court, Alito will likely win. Ultimately, the court refused to stay a lower court's injunction against Idaho's ban for several months while it decided what to do about it.
It's possible that Donald Trump will win in November and the case will go to trial. Project 2025 explicitly states that the Department of Health and Human Services must: Reverse direction to Emergency medical and labor lawWe consider the life and health of pregnant women before the fetus.
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'Idaho is no longer a safe place to practice medicine' Doctors avoid strict abortion ban
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