The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block Idaho’s new restrictive abortion law on the grounds that it violates federal law that requires most hospitals to provide medically necessary treatment to patients before they are discharged. Attorney General Merrick Garland held a news conference Tuesday detailing the lawsuit. It is the first Justice Department lawsuit filed targeting new state abortion restrictions passed after the Supreme Court ruled in June that there is no federal constitutional right to abortion. This decision reversed the Supreme Court’s 49-year-old decision in Roe v. Wade, which established the national right of women to terminate their pregnancies. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Idaho notes that the state “has enacted a near-total abortion ban,” which after taking effect Aug. 25 will make it a criminal offense to perform an abortion “in all but extremely narrow circumstances.” . Garland said the ban conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Care and Labor Act, which requires a hospital that accepts Medicare funds to provide treatment in emergency departments to stabilize a patient that is medically necessary to stabilize of the patient’s condition prior to transfer or discharge. This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
