The Supreme Court will allow abortions in Idaho in emergency situations, for now, despite the state’s near-total ban on the procedure. But the decision Thursday leaves open questions about one aspect of the legality of abortion across the country amid an election year.
The justices dismissed a dispute between the Biden administration and Idaho state officials as “improvidently granted,” an outcome that reinstates a lower-court ruling that said federal law mandates the availability of abortion in the state’s emergency rooms.
When the Supreme Court agreed to decide the case in January, the justices had paused that ruling and allowed the state to enforce the state law while the Supreme Court decided the case.
