The United States Supreme Court has released its Moyle v U.S. ruling which was inadvertently posted to the court’s portal yesterday, revealing the court was leaning towards ruling that the state of Idaho cannot prohibit doctors from performing emergency abortions. By a vote of 6–3, the posted decision would put back into effect the lower-court order enjoining Idaho not to prevent hospitals from providing emergency abortions to protect against serious harm to the health of the mother.
The full court ruling can be read here.
Moyle v. United States concerns whether an Idaho abortion law conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). In 2020, Idaho passed a law criminalizing most abortions, Idaho Code 18-622, was a trigger law that only took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Biden administration filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Idaho, arguing that the federal statute EMTALA preempts the state law to the extent that they conflict. In August 2022, a federal judge agreed with the Biden administration’s lawsuit arguments that the law conflicted with EMTALA.
