Once More, With Feeling

Reuters: U.S. SUPREME COURT ALLOWS - FOR NOW - ABORTIONS TO BE PERFORMED IN IDAHO IN CASES OF MEDICAL EMERGENCIES FOR PREGNANT WOMEN

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 27, 2024

In Idaho; not in Texas. The 5th Circuit explicitly denied application of EMTALA against the same law Idaho has.

Idaho population 2024: 1,990,456

Texas population 2024: 30,976,754

The population of Austin, one of the smaller major urban areas, is 2,274,000. Just to put it in stark perspective.

And Alito compared abortion to experimental cancer treatment in his dissent. Which is ignorance and jack-assery on a whole new level.

Honestly, the reporting is so half-assed:

A doctor is welcome to perform an abortion to save a woman's life, or to prevent serious harm or infertility in Idaho. However there is nothing in the order that actually shields a doctor from criminal prosecution. So on one hand a hospital might be putting some of its Medicare funding at stake, and on the other the doctor could be subject to criminal prosecution and imprisonment. So yes, there is a choice but it is meaningless. Women will be bleeding out in hospitals and receiving no treatment. The conservatives in the dissent made clear they would have ruled for Idaho, Medicare can't overrule a state criminal law. Given that it is almost guaranteed we will get that decision later, is there any way to write a Federal law that would mandate basic care if a state makes providing the same care a criminal offense?

So Idaho is still in the same position as Texas: face criminal trial to show you didn’t violate the law.

I dunno 🤷🏻‍♂️. Maybe the ERA would have “fixed” this. Except I’m sure the Roberts Court would gut that, too.

We really are down to “the law is what 5 people say it is.” And they are all there for life.