Washington DC, US

The US Supreme Court on Thursday (Jun 27) issued a decision that will allow emergency abortion access in Idaho, for now. The decision came despite the state's strict ban on the procedure, clearing the way for women experiencing medical emergencies to obtain abortions in the state. 

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The decision comes two years after the conservative-majority bench overturned the nationwide right to terminate a pregnancy, making reproductive rights a pivotal issue that could affect the outcome of the November presidential election. 

The 6-3 decision upheld an earlier court's ruling that, in cases when two statutes conflict, Idaho's nearly complete abortion prohibition must give way to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labour Act (EMTALA), a 1986 US law. 

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Notably, a copy of the decision was mistakenly uploaded on the court's website, making it a significant abortion decision that was leaked online ahead of its official publication for the second time in the last two years. 

Medical experts have said conditions that could threaten the woman's life and health could require an abortion to stabilise her or avoid seizures, vital organ damage and failure, and more. 

The court's decision lifted a block that the justices had placed on the lower court's ruling in January. But the Supreme Court did not resolve the underlying legal dispute. 

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Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said, "All of these cases are rare, but within these rare cases, there's a significant number where the woman is her life is not in peril, but she's going to lose her reproductive organs. She's going to lose the ability to have children in the future unless an abortion takes place." 

"Now, that's the category of cases in which EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act) says, my gosh, of course, the abortion is necessary to assure that no material deterioration occurs. And yet Idaho says, sorry, no abortion here. And the result is that these patients are now helicoptered out of state," Kagan added. 

President Joe Biden said, "The stakes could not be higher and the contrast could not be clearer. My administration is committed to defending reproductive freedom and maintains our long-standing position that women have the right to access the emergency medical care they need." 

(With inputs from agencies)