WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by the Biden administration in a dispute over emergency room abortion care in Texas, leaving a victory for the Republican-led state in the lower courts.
The decision, months after the court grappled with a similar case from Idaho without reaching a conclusive decision, is a setback for the Biden administration.
The decision overturns a ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Texas on whether a federal law governing emergency room care trumps the state’s abortion restrictions in some cases.
The larger legal issue remains unresolved at the national level.
The 1986 federal law, called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, requires that patients — including, the federal government says, pregnant women with serious complications — receive appropriate emergency care. The law applies to hospitals that receive federal funding through the Medicare program.
In the wake of the Supreme Court striking down the constitutional right to abortion in 2022 and the strict bans that followed in some states, the Biden administration issued guidance stating that states could not enforce portions of the abortion ban that would violate the federal law.
That led to lawsuits, with Texas challenging the guidelines and the government suing Idaho over its strict abortion ban.
In the Idaho case, the Supreme Court sidestepped a major ruling on the issue in June, with some justices saying the court was too quick to address the legal issue. In the meantime, a lower court ruling that allows emergency room doctors to perform abortions in some situations remains in effect.
In Texas, a federal judge ruled against the government, saying the federal government had exceeded its authority in issuing the guidelines. The decision was upheld on appeal.
The government appealed to the Supreme Court, but asked the justices to stay the case until the Idaho dispute was decided. Over the summer, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar urged the court to annul the appeals court ruling so new developments could be reexamined.
In addition, the court declined to hear another abortion-related case, this one from Guam, over whether the territory’s Supreme Court had the authority to rule that a 1990 abortion ban is no longer on the books.
In other action, the court denied an appeal related to the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling in February that threatened the availability of in vitro fertilization in the state. The Legislature quickly changed state law to ensure the treatment remains available, leaving the matter largely moot.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
