16 more states hope to weigh in on Idaho abortion lawsuit
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Sixteen more states are asking to weigh in on the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against Idaho over its strict abortion ban.
The Justice Department sued the Republican-led state of Idaho earlier this month, saying the abortion ban set to take effect on Aug. 25 violates a federal law requiring Medicaid-funded hospitals to provide “stabilizing treatment” to patients experiencing medical emergencies. In July, President Joe Biden’s administration told hospitals that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, requires them to provide abortion services if the life of the pregnant person is at risk.
In court documents filed Friday, Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming characterized the federal government’s guidelines as “EMTALA’s grant conditions” and said they do not have the power to preempt state law.
Using the Supremacy Clause to enforce conditions of federal grants is “fundamentally, a non-starter,” the states said in court documents.
The states also contend that the Idaho abortion law does not directly conflict with the federal law because it’s possible for hospitals to comply with both, simply by turning down federal funding.
The Idaho abortion ban makes performing an abortion a felony, but it allows physicians to defend themselves in court by showing that the procedure was necessary to save a patient’s life.
State governments from across the U.S. are watching the case closely. Earlier this week, 20 states and Washington., D. C., filed a friend-of-the-court brief siding with the federal government and contending that their own residents would be put at risk should they have a...
