I’m An Emergency Physician. Here’s How Dangerous This Supreme Court Abortion Ruling Could Be.

The U.S. Supreme Court is about to rule on a case in which abortion bans in several states collide with the daily reality of emergency medicine in hospitals across the nation ― and its decision will have life-and-death implications.

As an emergency physician with more than 25 years under my belt and who has seen just about every medical crisis come through the doors at my hospital, I’m worried that the deeply conservative court will gut the bedrock protections every patient relies on when they stagger into an emergency department desperate for care.

At the heart of Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States is whether hospital emergency departments in states that ban abortion can effectively refuse care to patients who may need an abortion, violating the Emergency Medicine and Treatment of Active Labor Act that guarantees no patient gets turned away at an emergency department.

Before EMTALA was signed into law nearly 40 years ago, hospitals could deny care to patients who showed up at emergency rooms. Profit-driven hospitals denied care to uninsured patients and redirected them elsewhere. With delays in care, these patients often faced significant risks to their lives. For emergency physicians today, treating “anyone, anywhere, anytime” is our mantra, and most of us wouldn’t have it any other way.

As states enact draconian laws that essentially ban abortions, many of us are horrified that patients with serious pregnancy complications are now being kicked out of emergency departments in those states because the specter of serious legal repercussions looms over the heads of hospital staff. As a physician, I strongly believe every patient who seeks emergency care deserves to get access to the best medical care,