BOISE, Idaho — A federal judge on Monday said Idaho’s abortion “trigger law” conflicts with a federal statute mandating treatment — including abortion — be provided to emergency room patients.
The Justice Department this month petitioned Idaho’s district court to enjoin the state’s near-total ban on abortion, because it conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). The federal statute requires hospitals that receive Medicare funding “provide necessary stabilizing treatment” to patients experiencing a medical emergency.
“Simply put, doctors in emergency rooms, labor and delivery rooms around the state are going to be forced to navigate their way through this conflict between the abortion statute and EMTALA,” U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill said during oral argument at the federal courthouse in Boise on Monday.
