The United States Supreme Court is poised to allow doctors in Idaho to perform abortions during certain medical emergencies, according to Bloomberg. The outlet claimed that a draft opinion of the upcoming decision was accidentally posted online on Wednesday. The document was taken down soon after.
The Supreme Court offered a response, acknowledging that the opinion in Moyle v. U.S., Idaho v. U.S. was “briefly” uploaded to its website.
"The Court's Publications Unit inadvertently and briefly uploaded a document to the Court's website," a spokesperson said. "The Court's opinion in these cases will be issued in due course."
According to Bloomberg, this ruling from the high court would reinstate a lower court order that allowed hospitals in the state to perform “emergency abortions” for the mother’s health. The outlet noted that the posted version of the decision indicated that the judges dismissed appeals from Idaho and pro-life leaders in the state.
According to CBS News, the copy of the opinion showed a 6-3 split, with Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch in dissent.
"Apparently, the court has simply lost the will to decide the easy but emotional and highly politicized question that the case presents," Alito reportedly wrote.
Reportedly, Justice Elena Kagan authored a concurring opinion, stating the decision "will prevent Idaho from enforcing its abortion ban when the termination of a pregnancy is needed to prevent serious harms to a woman's health,” adding that allowing the injunction to go back into effect “will give Idaho women access to all the needed medical treatments that EMTALA guarantees."
The case decided whether a federal law requiring hospitals that participate in Medicare to provide “necessary stabilizing treatment,” including an abortion, in an emergency trumps an Idaho law that bans most abortions. In addition, the state law includes criminal penalties of up to five years in prison for anyone who performs one or assists an abortion. There are limited exceptions for rape and life of the mother.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Idaho was one of many states that enacted laws protecting the unborn, as Townhall covered. The Biden administration brought forward the legal challenge, claiming that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act trumps the state law.
A lower court agreed with the Biden administration and blocked the Idaho law. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, it lifted the injunction.
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