Judge rules Idaho can't criminalize abortion needed for emergency medical care
CBSN
A federal judge has paused a portion of an Idaho abortion ban which was set to go into effect Thursday and would have prevented doctors from performing abortions in emergency situations. The judge ruled in favor of the Justice Department in its first challenge to a state abortion law since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Judge B. Lynn Winmill issued the injunction Wednesday after the Justice Department sued the state of Idaho earlier this month, alleging Idaho Code 18-622 violates federal law, which requires emergency room doctors at institutions accepting Medicare provide patients in distress with the care necessary for their survival.
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) "requires that ER physicians at hospitals receiving Medicare funds offer stabilizing treatment to patients who arrive with emergency medical conditions," according to the judge, and Idaho's law would criminalize abortions at any level, even in such emergency situations.
