As the Supreme Court heard arguments in Idaho v. United States, a case that has sweeping implications for whether emergency physicians are able to provide abortions when a patient’s life is in danger, two conservative justices implied they believe federal law gives rights to fetuses.
The case centers around the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, a federal law which the Biden administration says requires doctors to provide emergency abortions. While the questions the justices are evaluating do not relate to fetal personhood, the law itself contains the words “unborn child” — a popular term used by the anti-abortion movement — four times. Conservative Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch both questioned that language, suggesting that the law should not allow abortions because the fetus must be considered when deciding treatment.
In an emergency situation, “the hospital must stabilize the threat to the unborn child, and it seems that the plain meaning is that the hospital must try to eliminate any immediate threat to the child, but performing an abortion is antithetical to that duty,” Alito said.