Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador urged the U.S. Supreme Court this week to step in and decide a case involving the state's near-total abortion ban.
In a letter to the court Wednesday, acting state Solicitor General Joshua Turner argued a recent federal circuit court decision out of Texas supports Idaho’s interpretation of a federal law called EMTALA, which requires most hospitals to provide emergency care to stabilize a patient.
The Idaho law contains an exception for instances in which an abortion is deemed necessary to prevent the death of a pregnant woman. The U.S. Justice Department's interpretation of EMTALA requirements is slightly broader; the agency argues an abortion may be required in a medical emergency, even when the situation is not specifically lethal. DOJ filed a challenge to the Idaho law last summer.
The Justice Department's suit is still making its way through the federal court system, but Turner said the Texas ruling supports Idaho’s abortion restrictions and claimed that Idaho was likely to prevail at the Supreme Court.
"It concluded that EMTALA does not preempt state abortion laws because, among other things, it 'does not govern the practice of medicine' but rather leaves such matters to the states," Turner wrote.
He asked the court to rule on the Justice Department challenge under a tool called “certiorari before judgement.” That would skip a step in the normal American appellate process.
The Supreme Court has not publicly responded to Idaho's entreaty. It rarely grants certiorari before judgment requests, but has done so more frequently since 2019, including some highly influential abortion cases.
Meanwhile, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Idaho and other Western states, has scheduled a January 23 en banc hearing on the case.
