Trump Admin Will Drop Case Protecting Emergency Abortion Care at Hospitals
In the DOJ’s first major action on abortion, it is dismissing a case that sought to protect pregnant people in emergency rooms
03.04.25 (PRESS RELEASE) — Today, the Department of Justice revealed it will reverse course in a case brought by the Biden Administration challenging Idaho’s abortion ban—one of the strictest in the nation. The case sought to ensure hospitals are still providing emergency abortion care to patients as required by the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA)—a longstanding federal law requiring hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment to all patients with emergency medical conditions.
The decision to drop this case would have caused Idaho’s extreme abortion ban to once again take full effect by dissolving a court order partially blocking the ban in situations covered by EMTALA. However, earlier tonight, in anticipation of this move by the Trump administration, St. Lukes—the largest hospital system in Idaho—asked for and was granted an emergency injunction to keep the ban partially blocked.
Statement by Nancy Northup, President and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights
“This action represents a dramatic change in government policy—The Trump Administration has made it clear they no longer plan to defend pregnant people in medical emergencies. President Trump talks about ‘protecting women’ in sports and in locker rooms, meanwhile he’d let them go septic in the ER. Dismissing this case is indefensible—a case meant to protect women’s lives in a state with one of the strictest abortion bans in the U.S. Without the rulings in this case, hospitals were airlifting women out of Idaho while they were hemorrhaging so they could get life-saving abortions. With this action, the Trump administration is turning its back on pregnant people in the most dire of situations.”
Separately, the Center for Reproductive Rights is suing the state of Idaho on behalf of multiple women denied abortions while suffering severe pregnancy complications. This case seeks to clarify and expand what circumstances qualify under the “medical emergency” exceptions in Idaho’s abortion bans. Because of Idaho’s strict bans, without an injunction under EMTALA, pregnant people will again be forced to either wait until they are near death to receive abortion care or flee the state if they are able. The case went to trial in November 2024, and a ruling is expected at any time.
Because of the state’s bans and the looming threats of prosecution, Idaho doctors have been fleeing the state in droves. More than one in five OB-GYNs have left Idaho since the bans took effect in 2022.
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