TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Aug 25, 2022

The U.S. Department of Justice won an order temporarily barring enforcement of Idaho’s near-total ban on abortions when women endangered by pregnancy complications require emergency care, Reuters reports. The ruling by U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill now sets up a conflict with the decision from U.S. District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix in Texas, who blocked the emergency care guidance from being implemented there this week. Winmill said the Idaho law conflicts with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which is designed to ensure patients receive emergency "stabilizing care" at hospitals, while Hendrix found the guidance went too far afield of the law. The rulings, depending on how they are decided on appeal, could require the U.S. Supreme Court to settle the question.