BOISE, Idaho — The U.S. Department of Justice has sued the state of Idaho in an attempt to block its forthcoming abortion ban.
Idaho’s abortion trigger law — which is set to take effect this month — violates a federal law that requires hospitals receiving Medicare funding to “provide necessary stabilizing treatment” to patients experiencing a medical emergency, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Idaho’s federal court Tuesday.
“If a patient comes into the emergency room with a medical emergency jeopardizing the patient’s life or health, the hospital must provide the treatment necessary to stabilize that patient,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a news conference Tuesday. “This includes abortion, if that is the necessary treatment.”
This month the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to abandon federal protections for abortion will trigger a 2020 Idaho law banning most abortions. The law provides exceptions when the pregnancy puts the woman’s life at risk or if the pregnancy was a result of incest or rape.
But the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, says that if a person with an “emergency medical condition” seeks treatment at a hospital that accepts Medicare funds, the hospital must “provide medical treatment necessary to stabilize that condition before transferring or discharging the patient.”
Under the statute, “emergency medical conditions” include not just life-threatening conditions but also conditions that seriously jeopardize a patient’s health, along with other situations, the complaint said.
Idaho’s trigger contradicts the federal statute because it “preemptively criminalizes all abortions ... even where a denial of care will likely result in the death of the patient,” said U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta during the news conference.
“The law thus places medical professionals in an impossible situation,” Gupta said. “They must either withhold stabilizing treatment required by EMTALA or risk felony prosecution and license revocation. In so doing, the law will chill providers’ willingness to perform abortions in emergency situations and will hurt patients by blocking access to medically necessary health care.”
The Justice Department has asked an Idaho district court to declare Idaho’s law invalid under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says federal law has precedence over state law. U.S. attorneys have also asked the court to permanently enjoin the Idaho law to the extent it conflicts with Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
Meanwhile, the state faces three lawsuits from Planned Parenthood seeking to block multiple Idaho laws that restrict abortion. The Idaho Supreme Court on Wednesday will host a hearing on two of the three lawsuits.
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