Will SCOTUS Allow Pregnant Women to Die?

6/24/2024
by CARRIE N. BAKER, Ms. Magazine

A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court will be coming any day now in two cases, Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States, about whether states can prohibit doctors from treating women with life-threatening pregnancies until a patient’s condition deteriorates to the point where they are about to die.

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed an amicus brief in these cases describing several of the more than 70 documented cases of women almost dying—and at least one who did die—when they were denied emergency medical care because of abortion bans enacted across the country after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. And “the true number of cases is likely significantly higher,” according the NWLC brief.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2024/06/24/emtala-supreme-court-women-die-abortion-bans-pregnant/

Supreme Court mifepristone case will affect millions. Don’t base ruling off junk science.

Access to safe and effective medications like mifepristone should be based on rigorous scientific research and the medical community consensus – not the fringe opinions of a few extremists.

Julia Kaye
Jan 31, 2024

Overturning Roe v. Wade was just the beginning.

In Idaho v. United States, the question is whether states can disregard longstanding federal protections and bar doctors from providing abortions to patients experiencing medical emergencies.

The second case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Food and Drug Administration, targets access to mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used in most abortions in this country and for miscarriage management. Since its FDA approval a quarter century ago, mifepristone has been safely used by more than 5 million people.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2024/01/31/supreme-court-abortion-pill-mifepristone-junk-science/72370445007/

The U.S. Supreme Court’s new, nightmare abortion cases, explained

The Court blocked a lower court order enforcing a federal law that protects patients who require medically necessary abortions.

By Ian Millhiser
Jan 5, 2024

The Supreme Court handed down two significant orders on Friday evening. The first announces that the Court will hear a case asking whether former President Donald Trump is disqualified from running for president. The Court’s decision to hear this case was widely expected, and the biggest news in this order is that the Court plans to hear the case on an expedited basis, with oral arguments taking place on February 8.

The second order is more surprising and potentially almost as consequential: The Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s decision holding that patients who require an abortion to save their life or prevent catastrophic health consequences are entitled to such an abortion under federal law.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/scotus/2024/1/5/24027273/supreme-court-trump-abortion-emtala-idaho-emergency

05.01.2024

Commentary

Donald Trump

Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act

Ian Milhiser

Idaho v. United States

Moyle v. United States

Two new Supreme Court cases ask if there is a right to medically necessary abortion

A federal law requires most hospitals to perform emergency abortions. The question is whether a Republican Supreme Court will enforce it.

By Ian Millhiser
Dec 4, 2023

A federal law, known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), requires hospitals that accept Medicare funds to provide “such treatment as may be required to stabilize the medical condition” of “any individual” who arrives at the hospital’s ER with an “emergency medical condition.”

The language unambiguously requires these hospitals to provide an abortion to such patients when an abortion is the appropriate medical treatment to stabilize their emergency medical condition. And a federal court in Idaho held more than a year ago that this statute requires hospitals to provide medically necessary abortions even if the procedure would ordinarily be banned under state law.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/12/4/23984674/supreme-court-abortion-emtala-emergency-medically-necessary-idaho

04.12.2023