NWLC Responds to Supreme Court Ruling on Access to Emergency Abortion Care

Washington, DC — The Supreme Court ruled today on Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States, that – for now – emergency abortions in Idaho are allowed when a woman’s health is at risk. 

The following statement is from Gretchen Borchelt, vice president for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center:

“The Supreme Court deserves absolutely no credit for this decision. This is the bare minimum that pregnant people and providers in Idaho deserve. The Court created this crisis when it overturned Roe and then, again, when it allowed the Idaho criminal abortion ban to go into full effect, needlessly and with dire consequences, as the Court now admits. Rather than issue a decision that would unequivocally reaffirm that emergency abortion care is protected by longstanding federal law, the Court punted this question, opening the possibility that more pregnant people will be denied life and health saving care in the future. 

We are at a dangerous juncture with this Court. Three of the justices are willing to leave patients to bleed in parking lots and force doctors to negotiate with hospital lawyers about whether the loss of one organ is enough harm to get care. We won’t stop fighting for a world in which abortion care is protected, affordable, and available to anyone who needs it.”