Blumenthal Statement on the Supreme Court's Decision on Access to Emergency Abortion Care

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States, two consolidated cases regarding the rights of pregnant people to access emergency medical care, including abortion care, under a federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA):

“Today’s decision is a reprieve, not a victory. There is no cause for celebrating temporary relief from a state ban on emergency abortion care that conflicts with federal law. The full Court should have sided with Justice Jackson in holding that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act supersedes Idaho’s state ban, and guarantees reproductive health care when necessary in an emergency, providing certainty and consistency to women in Idaho and everywhere,” Blumenthal said. “In Dobbs, the Supreme Court issued a death sentence to countless American women when it overturned fifty years of precedent, and two years later, this Court continues to treat women’s lives as disposable.”

“Presented with harrowing stories of women bleeding out in emergency rooms, being discharged to face life threatening infections, and being airlifted to other states for care, this Court simply shrugged. Given the opportunity to stop such madness and confirm that longstanding federal law clearly guarantees patients the right to access emergency abortion care, the Court dismissed the case for further review. The fight for abortion access is as critical as ever and we cannot give up. This issue is about more than health care; it is about women’s rights, individual rights, and human rights.”

In March, Blumenthal joined 258 Members of Congress in an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the district court’s ruling, arguing that the congressional intent, text, and history of EMTALA make clear that covered hospitals must provide abortion care when it is the necessary stabilizing treatment for a patient’s emergency medical condition, and that EMTALA preempts Idaho’s abortion ban in emergency situations that present a serious threat to a patient’s health.

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