The Supreme Court’s decision that Idaho’s near-total ban on abortions does not preempt federal rules requiring certain treatment in emergency rooms is the second major ruling to bolster the Biden administration on abortion rights since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
The ruling, at least for now, also preserves a key tool the Biden administration has increasingly relied upon since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022 — a 1986 law known by the acronym EMTALA that requires hospitals to provide “necessary stabilizing treatment” to all patients as a condition of receiving Medicare funding.
The Biden administration issued guidance in 2022 clarifying that patients in states with bans on most abortions are entitled to emergency abortions in their states in critical medical situations.
