BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A federal appeals court is expected to hear arguments Tuesday afternoon over whether Idaho should be prohibited from enforcing a strict abortion ban during medical emergencies when a pregnant patient's life or health is at risk.
The state law makes it a felony to perform an abortion unless the procedure is necessary to prevent the death of the patient. President Biden's administration sued Idaho two years ago, contending the law violates a federal rule called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, because it prevents doctors from performing abortions that save their patients from serious infections, organ loss or other major medical issues.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case earlier this year but bounced it back to the lower court on a procedural issue, leaving unanswered questions about the legality of the state abortion ban.
"Taking EMTALA for what it actually says, there is no direct conflict with Idaho's Defense of Life Act," attorneys representing the Idaho Legislature wrote in court filings earlier this month. "Nothing in EMTALA requires physicians to violate state law. And nothing in Idaho law -- whether in EMTALA-covered circumstances or beyond -- denies medical care to pregnant women."
Idaho officials have argued in court filings that the state abortion ban doesn't violate EMTALA. Instead, they say the fetus or embryo should be considered a patient with protections under EMTALA as well. They also argue that doctors have enough wiggle room under the law to use their best judgment about when to treat pregnant people with life-threatening medical conditions.
About 50,000 people in the U.S. develop life-threatening complications during pregnancy each year. Those complications can include major blood loss, sepsis, or loss of reproductive organs. In rare cases, doctors might need to terminate a pregnancy to protect the health of the pregnant person, especially where there is no chance for a fetus to survive.
"These harms are not hypothetical," Idaho's largest hospital system, St. Luke's Health System wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief in October. "In all of 2023 before Idaho's law went into effect only one pregnant patient presenting to St Luke's with a medical emergency was airlifted out of state for care yet in few months when new abortion law was effect six pregnant St Luke's patients were transferred out of state termination pregnancy."
One of those patients had severe preeclampsia -- a condition that causes dangerously high blood pressure that can be fatal if untreated -- and others had premature rupture of their membranes putting them at risk of life-threatening infections St Luke said
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