The government should never restrict our access to healthcare or interfere in our private medical decisions. Despite the many attacks from extremist politicians – abortion, contraception, and gender-affirming care remain legal and available in Montana.
Join us to learn more about what you can do to protect and expand our rights. We’re working alongside allied partners and Montanans across the state to change policy at the city, county, and state level.
In a 6-3 opinion, SCOTUS dismissed the case and returned it to the lower court for further litigation.
What does this mean?
As Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson explained in her opinion: “Today’s decision is not a victory for pregnant patients in Idaho. It is a delay. While this court dawdles and the country waits, pregnant people experiencing emergency medical conditions remain in a precarious position, as their doctors are kept in the dark about what the law requires. This Court had a chance to bring clarity and certainty to this tragic situation, and we have squandered it. And for as long as we refuse to declare what the law requires, pregnant patients in Idaho, Texas, and elsewhere will be paying the price.”
Let’s be clear, SCOTUS should have never taken this case in the first place. EMTALA is a federal law which is supreme in our system of government – meaning it preempts state law. But since they did intervene, their decision to then dismiss the case instead of clarifying that EMTALA is supreme over state abortion laws is cowardly and politically motivated.
Anti-abortion politicians and the extreme justices on the Supreme Court only care about furthering their political agenda – not about saving lives or protecting the rights of people.
In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether states with abortion bans can block pregnant people from getting life-saving abortion care in emergency situations.
We believe that everyone should be able to access abortion care when they need it – without government interference. This includes pregnant people who need abortion care in life-threatening situations.
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon determine whether abortion care will be singled out and excluded from the protections of “EMTALA” – a long-standing federal law which was passed to ensure that no one was denied emergency medical care to save their life.
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is a nearly 40-year-old federal law guaranteeing everyone the right to treatment for emergency medical conditions nationwide. EMTALA has always protected pregnant people in medical emergencies and required stabilizing emergency abortion care. EMTALA contains no exceptions: hospitals must provide the treatment necessary to stabilize emergency medical conditions, and for some people, that means ending a pregnancy to save the life of the pregnant person.
Anti-abortion extremists, particularly those in states that have banned abortion, want to exclude pregnant people from EMTALA’s protections and force doctors to turn away patients suffering emergency pregnancy conditions. This is cruel and inhumane. Pregnant people, their families, and communities suffer lifelong consequences from being denied the emergency abortion care they need. EMTALA saves lives.
It’s important to recognize that this case is part of a broader and long-term strategy to ban abortion and other reproductive health care altogether. It’s also part of a broader erosion of our rights – across many domains – by extremist politicians.
We must remain vigilant and work together to put an end to these cruel and relentless attacks on our freedoms and our democracy. Join Montanans for Choice in our efforts to expand access sexual and reproductive healthcare in Montana.
Learn more: National Women’s Law Center – Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States Case Explainer
Abortion care must be available as early as possible and as late as necessary
Join us in a public hearing for an Administrative Rule Change proposed by MT DPHHS entitled, “Pertaining to 12-month postpartum continuous eligibility for Medicaid and Healthy Montana Kids (HMK)”
Virtual public hearing: Thursday, May 30th at 3pm MT time