The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a second abortion case on Wednesday, this time dealing with claims by Republican-led states that the Biden administration is trying to invoke a 40-year-old federal law as an “abortion mandate.” .
Following a debate over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of abortion drugs, the high court will consider whether the Emergency Medical Labor Act (EMTALA) preempts Idaho’s new Defense of Life Act. It is a crime for a health care provider to perform an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or the mother’s life.
The Justice Department argued that state law does not go far enough to allow abortions in more medical emergencies.
But supporters of the state law argue that the administration’s lawsuit against Idaho seeks to use the federal law as an “abortion mandate” to benefit the president ahead of the 2024 election.
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Crowd outside the Supreme Court reacting to the 2022 Dobbs decision. (FOX News Photo/Joshua Commins)
“Construing EMTALA as a federal abortion mandate raises serious questions based on material issue principles that affect both Congress and this Court,” Idaho argued in its legal filing.
“The Supreme Court has made it clear that it’s up to each state to decide what the law should be, not for the federal government,” Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador said in an interview with Fox News Digital. ” he said.
“But Joe Biden and his administration decided to take us to federal court, frankly. We went to the Supreme Court and decided that these issues should be decided by the states, not the federal government. “I’m excited to show something,” he said.
In its response to the high court, the Justice Department said that Idaho law makes it a felony for a doctor to terminate a pregnancy unless it is “necessary” to prevent the patient’s “death.” He said it was “narrower” than EMTALA. According to its terms, it “protects patients not only from imminent death, but also from emergencies that seriously threaten their health.”
But the state of Idaho rejected the federal law’s “preliminary language,” arguing that the blank slate for the executive branch to write its abortion policy priorities conflicts with multiple legal provisions that guarantee emergency medical care for pregnant women and their unborn babies. He accused the administration of “interpreting the situation”. ”
“It’s clear that the administration is just manipulating EMTALA and that both laws should be able to coexist,” said John, a senior litigator at the civil rights firm Alliance Defending Freedom and co-counsel on the case.・Barsh said in an interview with FOX News Digital.
“Idaho’s life defense law makes it clear that if a woman’s life is in danger, she should be treated and helped, because in that case the mother’s life is in danger. “Because when you’re exposed, it’s not an abortion in Idaho or anywhere else in 49 states,” he said.
But the White House says 21 states have enacted abortion bans, causing “chaos and confusion.”
“These extreme state laws are causing confusion and confusion, and women are being denied the essential care they need. But these dangerous state laws also prevent health care providers from providing medical care in emergencies covered by federal emergency medical insurance. “It does not change the responsibility that the company has to its patients,” White House Press Secretary Kelly Scully told Fox News Digital.
“The Biden-Harris administration has long been clear that federal law requires hospitals to provide health and life-saving care to patients during emergencies. “We remain focused on clarifying federal requirements, and while the Department of Justice has defended that understanding before the Supreme Court, no woman should be denied the care she needs,” she said.
The Reproductive Rights Center also filed a lawsuit in September 2023, arguing that Idaho’s abortion ban is “a six-week ban with a ‘vigilante’-style civil liability clause.”
The center is a professional membership organization made up of four women who were denied medically necessary abortion care in their home states, two Idaho physicians providing obstetric care, and Idaho physicians, residents, and medical students. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of seven plaintiffs.
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Anti-abortion activists celebrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2022. (Olivier Drierly/AFP via Getty Images)
EMTALA is a federal law signed by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1986 with bipartisan Congressional support that prevents hospitals from denying indigent patients who need medical care and that The aim is to provide similar “stabilization” care. You can pay for it or your insurance will cover it.
After the 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to determine their own abortion restrictions, the Biden administration used the law to impose an “abortion mandate” for the first time in the law’s history, Barsh said. he said.
The district court sided with the Justice Department and issued a preliminary injunction against the state law. The Ninth Circuit upheld the decision, and Idaho appealed to the Supreme Court. Oral argument is scheduled for April 24th.
“What the Biden administration wants to do is use this law to turn emergency rooms into abortion havens,” Barsh said. “And even if a patient comes in and is told that they are in critical condition with a mental health issue, like depression or anxiety, doctors are not allowed to treat them in defiance of laws like those in Idaho. EMTALA says nothing of the kind when it takes the life of an innocent child.
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Supreme Court justices pose for official photos at the Supreme Court. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
Bursh said he finds it “very ironic” that in the wake of Dobbs’ decision, President Biden himself disagrees with the decision, but states that are run through a democratic process He added that he understood that the decision would be made on whether to regulate such abortion laws. state.
“Then, just a few weeks later, he reversed course and said, ‘Well, the federal government is going to reinterpret EMTALA in a way that has never been interpreted in its nearly 40-year history. , we’re just trying to impose this new requirement.’
“This is destroying states’ rights. It’s forcing abortions on states that don’t want them, and it’s all blatantly illegal,” he said.
Stephen Billy, vice president of national affairs for SBA Pro-Life America, said the administration’s new legal challenge to the state’s abortion law comes as Biden’s polling numbers decline ahead of the November election. He said it appeared to be politically motivated.
“I don’t feel like the Biden administration has any other issues. It’s clear what they’re going to talk about and what they’re going to issue. Whether or not abortion becomes a campaign issue is different,” Biden said. “The administration will try to bring it together,” he added.
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Rep. Nydia Velasquez, D-New York, departs, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, and Rep. Jackie Speer, D-Calif., leave the federal court amid protests over the court overturning Roe v. Wade. March to the Supreme Court. Tuesday, July 19, 2022, Washington, DC. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Billie cited the Women’s Health Protection Act, which Congressional Democrats tried to pass last year. It was supposed to legalize virtually unlimited abortion nationwide, but ultimately failed.
“Congress’s opposition to it is due to the will of the people who sent their elected officials to D.C., and polls show that the extreme positions of the Women’s Health Protection Act have no support nationally. There are very few,” Billy said.
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“So Biden turned to executive action, ignored the letter of the law, and simply tried to use executive statutes to expand abortion on demand by any means possible, and EMTALA is just one example of that.” No,” he said.
Billy added that he believes the Biden administration is using “fear and fear tactics” on this issue.
“The whole lawsuit is basically an argument that women should not have access to health care,” he said, but all “pro-life states” have exceptions for maternal health and medical emergencies. He pointed out that doctors are authorized to take action if this occurs.
“They are using that fear to advance their political agenda and try to save their campaigns because they have nothing else to do,” he said.
The Justice Department declined to comment on pending litigation.
