On June 27, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by the federal government regarding whether Idaho’s abortion ban conflicts with a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. The law requires emergency rooms to provide stabilizing care for patients experiencing medical emergencies regardless of their ability to pay.

The Conversation asked law professors Naomi Cahn and Sonia Suter to explain how the case ended up in the Supreme Court’s hands and why battles between this federal law and state abortion laws will likely be in the news for the foreseeable future.

In Moyle v. United States, the Supreme Court faced the question of whether the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act overrides Idaho’s strict abortion ban.

Congress passed the law in 1986 to ensure patients’ access to emergency care even if they couldn’t afford to pay for it. It requires emergency rooms to stabilize patients if failing to do so would result in serious jeopardy to the patient’s health. The law does not require patients to be on the brink of death before treatment.

After the Dobbs decision overturned a federal right to an abortion in 2022, Idaho’s trigger law went into effect. The state law banned abortions except to save the life of a pregnant person and in some cases of rape and incest. The Biden administration challenged the law in federal court.

The federal government argued that the act requires providers to offer an abortion as stabilizing care in some obstetric emergencies, but that Idaho’s law would prohibit the abortion if only the patient’s health, but not life, was in jeopardy. Therefore, the government argued, the federal act overrides the Idaho law when the two are in conflict.

A federal district court sided with the Biden administration and ruled that Idaho’s ban doesn’t apply when the federal act would necessitate an abortion. So Idaho appealed to the 9th Circuit.

As a result of various procedural issues, the case was appealed to the Supreme Court before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reached a final ruling on the merits. The Supreme Court also blocked the district court’s ruling. As a result, doctors in Idaho could no longer perform abortions in emergency situations unless the patient’s life was threatened.

The practical impact of the Supreme Court’s action was stark. From January through April 2024, when the Idaho law was fully enforceable, St. Luke’s – the largest largest private employer in Idaho – medevaced six women to another state to obtain an abortion for health reasons.

In contrast, from late 2022 to the end of 2023, when the federal law governed, only one pregnant patient had to be airlifted out of state.

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