Statement from URGE on Supreme Court’s Ruling on Emergency Abortion Care
Leaked as a draft yesterday, and officially released today, the Supreme Court issued a ruling on the Moyle v. United States case, allowing emergency abortion care to continue through the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), despite Idaho’s extreme abortion ban. Emergency abortions can remain in Idaho for now, yet the door is still open for challenges down the line.
In response, Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, said:
“While the Court dismissed appeals by Idaho and Republican leaders in the state, the core issue about the intersection of state abortion bans and a federal law allowing patients to receive emergency care as needed remains unsolved. This not only creates deep confusion and uncertainty for both patients and providers across this country, but it also leaves people’s lives in the balance all because anti-abortion extremists have decided to put their own radical and restrictive agendas over our health and well-being.
“As a mother who has needed emergency care while pregnant, it is unfathomable to me that the rights of pregnant people in emergencies are in question. The courts have no place interfering in any other person’s reproductive healthcare. It is maddening to think that people are denied the life-saving care they need.
“EMTALA has been working for 40 years, ensuring that pregnant people receive emergency abortion care if and when they need it, and it must remain in place. Extremists are continuing to erode our right to abortion even in the most dire circumstances, and URGE vehemently rejects any attempt to deny patients the care they need.
“While we breathe a sigh of relief today, we get ready to fight again tomorrow. This decision today shows us there is a clear need for a federal abortion policy solution, no one should ever have to be concerned that their right to healthcare will be taken away by the courts. URGE stands alongside the young people and BIPOC communities on the frontlines of the fight for reproductive justice. We won’t stop fighting all attempts to ban abortion and take away our reproductive rights from the national to the state level, and ensure the American people have access to the care they need at any time, especially in times of crisis.”
