The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in two consolidated cases, Moyle v. Idaho and Idaho v. United States, to determine whether a federal law governing emergency rooms may be used to preempt state pro-life laws and impose a nationwide mandate for abortions.
In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, to address the problem of hospitals that refuse to treat indigent patients in emergency rooms.
The law requires hospital emergency departments that accept Medicaid funds either to provide available treatment required to “stabilize” a patient’s emergency medical condition or transfer that patient to another medical facility.
Idaho prohibits abortions except when a physician determines “in his good faith medical judgment … that the abortion was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.”
These two…
