The Supreme Court allows emergency abortions in Idaho for now in a limited ruling

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for Idaho hospitals to provide emergency abortions, for now, in a procedural order that left key questions unanswered and could mean the issue ends up before the conservative-majority court again soon.

The order was briefly posted on the court’s website accidentally on Wednesday and abruptly removed. By a 6-3 vote, it reverses the court’s earlier order that had allowed an Idaho abortion ban to go into effect, even in medical emergencies.

Abortion is an animating issue in the 2024 election campaign, a direct result of the court’s seismic ruling two years ago that overturned the nationwide right to abortion. But in this decision and another that preserved access to abortion medication, the court stopped short of issuing broader rulings.

The Idaho order doesn’t answer key questions about whether doctors can provide emergency abortions elsewhere, a significant issue as most Republican-controlled states have moved to restrict the procedure.

In Texas, for example, an appeals court has sided with the state, finding federal health care law does not trump a state ban on abortion. Complaints of pregnant patients being turned away from emergency rooms in Texas immediately spiked following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to federal documents obtained by The Associated Press.

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