WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for Idaho hospitals to provide emergency abortions , for now, in a procedural ruling that left key questions unanswered and could mean the issue ends up before the conservative-majority court again soon. The ruling was briefly posted on the court's website accidentally and quickly taken down a day earlier. By a 6-3 vote, it reverses the court's earlier order that had allowed an Idaho abortion ban to go into effect, even in medical emergencies.
Abortion is front and center in the 2024 election campaign, a direct result of the court’s seismic ruling two years ago that overturned the nationwide right to abortion. But in this decision and another that preserved access to abortion medication, the justices avoided broader rulings that might have further stoked political passions in an election year. The Idaho opinion doesn’t answer key questions about whether doctors can provide emergency abortions elsewhere, a significant issue as most Republican-controlled states have moved to restrict the procedure.
In Texas, for example, an appeals court sided with the state, finding federal health care law does not trump a state ban on abortion. Complaints of pregnant patients being turned away from emergency rooms in Texas immediately spiked following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion, according to federal documents obtained by The Associated Press. The current issue came before.
