For Immediate Release: June 27, 2024  
Contact: Audrey Sandusky, asandusky@nfprha.org

Supreme Court Decision Delays Critical Action on Emergency Abortion Care 

Washington, D.C. – Today, in a per curiam ruling in Idaho v. United States, the Supreme Court dismissed its review concerning a federal law, known as the Emergency Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) that protects access to emergency abortion care at a hospital setting—even in states that ban abortion and regardless of a patient’s insurance status. Today’s ruling reinstates a lower court injunction that protects the ability of pregnant people to obtain abortions in medical emergencies while the case continues in the lower courts. The following is a statement from Clare Coleman, President & CEO of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA). 

"Today, the Supreme Court punted rather than make clear that federal law protects a pregnant person’s right to emergency abortion care. Our relief that Idahoans should once again be able to get emergency abortion care in accordance with EMTALA is tempered by the reality that this reprieve is limited and potentially temporary. 

“Today’s decision fails to provide any peace of mind for pregnant people in need of care, particularly those living in states that ban abortion. Amid a growing maternal mortality crisis and reproductive health nightmare, today’s decision means that the health and lives of people who can get pregnant continue to be in danger in America.” 

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NFPRHA is a membership organization representing publicly funded family planning providers and administrators nationwide. NFPRHA advances and elevates the importance of family planning in the nation’s health care system and promotes and supports the work of family planning providers and administrators, especially those in the safety net. For more information, visit nationalfamilyplanning.org.