US: Supreme Court throws out Texas emergency abortion appeal

The US Supreme Court on Monday threw out an appeal from President Joe Biden's administration to enforce federal guidance in Texas requiring hospitals to perform abortions if necessary to stabilize a patient's condition in a medical emergency. 

A lower court had earlier halted the enforcement of this guidance, after authorities in Texas argued the state's laws already accounted for this situation, despite dissent from some in the medical profession. 

The court did not state its reasoning for dismissing the appeal. It made no mention of dissenting opinions if there were any among the nine judges.

The decision comes weeks before a US presidential election where the issue has as usual featured prominently on the campaign trail, particularly in the aftermath of the Supreme Court in 2022 overturning its "Roe vs. Wade" ruling that had provided a nationwide right to abortion in many cases, and in all cases in the first three months of a pregnancy.

States are now able to set their own laws on this issue, which Republican candidate Donald Trump says he supports and which Democratic candidate Kamala Harris says she opposes.

Texas has since adopted highly restrictive new laws banning all elective abortions.

What's this case about?

Representatives of the state of Texas had argued at hearings in lower courts that its near-complete abortion ban did allow the procedure in two situations — when the pregnancy puts a patient at risk of death or in cases of a "medical emergency" putting a patient at "a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function." 

The case arose after complaints from Texan women who said they were forced to cross state borders for abortions in medical emergencies.

Some medical professionals have argued the Texan law is too vague on what constitutes a medical emergency and means they cannot act without fear of prosecution in all cases they would deem it to be medically necessary or prudent.

Doctors in Texas deemed to have performed an abortion in violation of the law can face a lengthy jail sentence, a fine, and the loss of their medical license.

The Justice Department succeeded earlier with a similar Supreme Court appeal, with the panel of judges voting 6-3,  pertaining to the state of Idaho.

But in that case, Idaho's abortion law only allowed for the procedure when a patient was at risk of death, not in a medical emergency. Authorities in Texas had therefore argued their state's case was different.

msh/wmr (AP, Reuters)