“In the days following the Dobbs decision, there have been widespread reports of delays or denials to pregnant women experiencing medical emergencies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference Tuesday. “We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that pregnant women receive the medical care they deserve.” The enabling law, passed in 2020, would make providing abortions a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The ban has exceptions for cases of rape or incest if reported to law enforcement or to prevent the death of a pregnant woman. The Justice Department is suing under the Emergency Medical Care and Labor Act, which states that hospitals receiving Medicare funds “must provide medical care necessary to stabilize that condition before the patient is transferred or discharged.” , according to Tuesday’s lawsuit. “Idaho’s law would make it a criminal offense for doctors to comply with EMTALA’s requirement to provide stabilization treatment, even when a doctor determines that an abortion is the medical treatment necessary to prevent a patient from serious risks to life. health or even death,” the DOJ said. . Abortion providers in Idaho have also challenged the state’s enabling law. The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case Wednesday. The DOJ last month created a task force aimed at protecting abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade and struck down the federal right to abortion. Garland said the lawsuit has “nothing to do with the adventure” of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. “The Supreme Court said that each state can make its own decisions about abortion, but so can the federal government,” he told reporters Tuesday. “Nothing that the Supreme Court has said has said that statutes passed by Congress, like EMTALA, are in any way invalid. It’s quite the opposite. The Supreme Court left it up to the representatives of the people. EMTALA was a decision passed by the United States Congress. The Supremacy Clause is a decision made in the United States Constitution. Federal law overrides state laws that directly conflict.” This story has been updated with additional details.
