The Court blocked a lower court order enforcing a federal law that protects patients who require medically necessary abortions.
The Supreme Court handed down two significant orders on Friday evening. The first announces that the Court will hear a case asking whether former President Donald Trump is disqualified from running for president. The Court’s decision to hear this case was widely expected, and the biggest news in this order is that the Court plans to hear the case on an expedited basis, with oral arguments taking place on February 8.
The second order is more surprising and potentially almost as consequential: The Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s decision holding that patients who require an abortion to save their life or prevent catastrophic health consequences are entitled to such an abortion under federal law.
In the second order, the Court also agreed to hear a pair of cases asking whether federal law requires hospitals to perform medically necessary abortions. Those two cases are called Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States.
EMTALA does not specifically mention abortions, but the law is written expansively and applies a blanket rule.
