On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld a decision blocking emergency abortions that would violate Texas law, which enforces one of the nation’s most stringent abortion bans.
Without offering an explanation, the justices allowed a lower court ruling to stand, stating that hospitals cannot be compelled to perform abortions that contravene Texas law.
The Biden administration had requested the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s decision, arguing that federal law mandates hospitals to provide abortions in emergency situations.
The administration referenced a previous Supreme Court decision in a similar Idaho case earlier this year, where emergency abortions were temporarily permitted while litigation was ongoing.
Additionally, the administration highlighted a Texas Supreme Court ruling that doctors do not have to wait until a woman’s life is immediately at risk to perform an abortion legally. This, they argued, aligns Texas law with federal regulations, making the lower court’s ruling unnecessary.
Texas, however, urged the justices to uphold the decision, contending that its Supreme Court had already confirmed an exception in the state’s law for the health of pregnant patients, thus avoiding a conflict between federal and state laws.
Doctors in Texas have expressed concerns that the law remains unclear, as the state’s medical board has not specified which conditions qualify for the health exception.
There has been an increase in reports of pregnant women in medical distress being denied care at Texas emergency rooms, as hospitals struggle to determine whether standard treatment could violate stringent abortion laws.
Historically, pregnancy terminations have been a standard part of treatment for patients with serious complications, such as preventing sepsis or organ failure. However, in Texas and other states with strict abortion bans, medical providers have expressed uncertainty about whether these procedures could lead to legal consequences, including prison time.
The Texas case emerged after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in a wave of abortion restrictions across Republican-led states. In response, the Biden administration issued guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions under federal law. Texas sued, claiming the guidance conflicted with its abortion ban, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state in January, asserting that the administration had overstepped its authority.
