Opinion | The Supreme Court is reducing pregnant women in Idaho to second-class citizens – By Jessica Levinson (MSNBC) / Jan 9, 2024
We’ve arrived at this legal crossroads because of the impact former President Donald Trump’s judicial appointments have had on abortion laws
The Supreme Court’s next foray into the legality of state laws criminalizing abortions will force them to wrestle with a fundamental question — are pregnant women entitled to the full protection of the law? Women used to be second-class citizens. We were deprived not just of the right to vote, but until very recently, we were deprived of the right to do basic things such as open bank accounts. It wasn’t until 1993, for example, that we reached the point where every state had outlawed spousal rape. Now, less than two years after the Supreme Court stripped abortion rights from the U.S. Constitution, it stands poised to put women’s ability to obtain medical care at further risk.
This time, as the court addresses questions related to restrictive state abortion laws, it will focus on a federal law that entitles all people to emergency medical care regardless of their ability to pay for that care. The specific legal question for the justices is whether, under this federal law, pregnant women facing true medical emergencies may obtain abortions even in states that would otherwise outlaw the procedure.
In Idaho and in Texas, state laws that say abortions can only be performed to save a mother’s life conflict with federal law that generally requires hospitals to provide emergency medical care even when there’s a nonfatal threat to a person’s health. That means that in Idaho and Texas, providers cannot perform abortions, even if the procedure might preserve a woman’s fertility or spare her from the risk of a stroke, coma or limb amputation. An abortion can be performed only if it is necessary to stop her from dying.
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