Supreme Court appears skeptical that state abortion bans conflict with federal health care law
Associated PressFollow the AP’s live coverage of arguments in the Supreme Court WASHINGTON — Conservative Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical Wednesday that state abortion bans enacted after the overturning of Roe v. Wade violate federal health care law, though some also questioned the effects on emergency care for pregnant patients. The Biden administration says abortion care must be allowed in those cases under a law that requires hospitals accepting Medicare to provide emergency care regardless of patients’ ability to pay. Idaho contends its ban does have exceptions for life-saving abortions, and the administration wants to wrongly expand the times when it’s allowed to turn hospitals into “abortion enclaves.” But liberal justices detailed cases of pregnant women hemorrhaging or having to undergo hysterectomies after abortion care was denied or delayed in states with bans. Abortion opponents say doctors have mishandled maternal emergency cases, and argue the Biden administration overstates health care woes to undermine state abortion laws.