The Supreme Court appears ready to allow emergency abortions in Idaho, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg Law.
The opinion was inadvertently posted to the court’s website briefly on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported. It is unclear whether it is the final version of the decision in Idaho v. United States, but suggests that the court will dismiss Idaho’s appeal of a lower court order.
“The Court’s Publications Unit inadvertently and briefly uploaded a document to the Court’s website,” Patricia McCabe, the court’s public information officer, said in a statement. “The Court’s opinion in these cases will be issued in due course.”
A decision siding with the federal government would override Idaho’s total abortion ban, which only allows the procedure if the patient’s life is at stake. It would be the second reproductive rights victory for Biden’s administration this month after the court on June 13 rejected an effort to bar the mailing of abortion pills.
However, the opinion does not appear to tackle the broader question of state abortion bans that clash with federal laws on emergency medical care, Bloomberg said. It does lift the court’s earlier stay on a lower court’s decision siding with the administration. The decision was 6-3, with Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissenting.
The federal government brought the suit against Idaho after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, arguing that the state’s broad ban clashes with federal requirements to provide emergency care.