has offered an important model for lawyers seeking to chip away at sweeping state bans and even eventually undermineNow the state Supreme Court’s decision offers a preview of conservatives’ response to the medical tragedies that have been all too common after: to blame physicians and hint that the life of the fetus ultimately counts as much as or more than that of the pregnant patient.had significance for patients outside Texas.
On the surface, this doesn’t sound so bad. Who doesn’t want doctors to have to act reasonably? But determining how sick a patient must be is never straightforward—and is all the more complicated when the wrong answer will be determined after the fact by a prosecutor and the physicians with whom they consult, and when guessing wrong will result in a penalty of up to life in prison.The court’s message was that physicians were the problem.
But even in dictating what happens to pregnant patients across the state, other Republicans will join the court in pointing the finger at the doctors charged with implementing draconian bans. “The law entrusts physicians,” the court explained, “with the profound weight of the recommendation to The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to make things worse for pregnant patients later this month, when it hands down a ruling on whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act preempts an Idaho ban with verya waste. It may not have changed the reality on the ground for patients in Texas, but it did tell an important story about the kind of America