Republicans in Idaho asked the Supreme Court to decide whether state abortion bans or federal law take precedence. But the ruling, which could come as soon as Thursday, is unlikely to be the final word. | Joy Asico-Smith/APThe Biden administration has tried with mixed success to use a federal law to preserve abortion access in medical emergencies. The Supreme Court this month could make that work much harder.
“Some of these hospitals would rather be seen as denying care to a patient than providing an abortion that maybe was potentially illegal,” said Emily Corrigan, an OB-GYN based in Boise, Idaho. “Often the federal enforcement is just a fine. It’s not losing your license. It’s not jail time. It’s not lawsuits from family members .”
“It would mean that they’re not able to participate in Medicaid and Medicare. I don’t know of many hospitals — or of any — that are willing to give that up,” she said. “I don’t think doctors, and certainly not hospitals, are going to risk that.” While facilities that violate EMTALA can be fined or stripped of their Medicare and Medicaid funding, experts said that it’s more common for federal agencies to work with hospitals to bring them into compliance — if they act at all. | Joy Asico-Smith/AP
While facilities that violate EMTALA can be fined or stripped of their Medicare and Medicaid funding, experts said that it’s more common for federal agencies to work with hospitals to bring them into compliance — if they act at all. “The fear of state criminal prosecution is higher,” she said. “ just feels like a less present threat.”
Corrigan, Verma and other doctors operating in states with bans said that despite EMTALA’s limitations, a Supreme Court ruling for Idaho would strip them of one of the last remaining protections they have as they work to care for pregnant patients in crisis.
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