US President Donald Trump’s administration filed a motion todismiss a lawsuit initiated by Biden’s administration against Idaho’s near-total abortion ban on Wednesday.
Idaho passed theDefense of Life Act (DLA) in 2020 and was set to take effect on August 25, 2022. The bill bans abortion except in the case of the death of the mother, or for first-trimester abortions, the mother reported herself as a victim of rape or incest to the police.
The Biden administration sued Idaho on August 2, 2022, claiming that Idaho’s DLA cannot be upheld as law under the US Constitution’s Supremacy Clause because it conflicts with the US’s Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) passed in 1986. EMTALA requires, except under narrow circumstances, hospitals that accept Medicare funds to provide patients with an “emergency medical condition” the medical examinations and treatments “as may be required to stabilize the medical condition.” EMTALA’s definition of an emergency medical condition includes the patient’s health being “(i) … in serious jeopardy, (ii) serious impairment to bodily functions, or (iii) serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part[.]”
The Biden administration argued that Idaho’s DLA criminalizes hospitals performing abortions for emergency medical conditions other than the death of the mother. It further argued that DLA conflicts with EMTALA because it provides is an affirmative defense. It stated that Idaho’s law deters hospitals that accept Medicare funds from treating patients with an emergency medical condition by “the threat of indictment, arrest, and criminal prosecution” and the “potential loss of their medical license.”
The US District Court for the District of Idaho granted the Biden administration a preliminary injunction preventing the DLA’s enforcement. Idahochallenged the injunction all the way to the US Supreme Court and the courtupheld the injunction on June 27, 2024.
In anticipation of the Trump administration dropping the case, St. Luke’s Health Systemsued Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador on January 14, 2024, for Idaho’s near-total abortion ban conflicting with the Medicare-funded hospital’s requirement to treat emergency medical conditions under the US’s EMTALA.
Prior to its decision, the US Supreme Court stayed the preliminary injunction against DLA on January 5, 2024. During the months in between, six patients wereairlifted out of state from St. Luke because of pregnancy complications. In 2023, airlifts out of state for pregnancy occurred only once.
The Center for Reproductive Rights hasreported that Idaho is among the twelve states that have imposed total or near-total abortion bans since the US Supreme Court’sDobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decisionremoved federal constitutional protection of abortion on June 24, 2022.