Booker Statement on Supreme Court EMTALA Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on the Supreme Court's ruling in Moyle v. United States:

"Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) nearly 40 years ago to ensure that every American, no matter what state they live in, gets the emergency care they need, including abortion services. Essential medical care should never be politicized, yet extreme politicians took this dispute all the way up to the Supreme Court to ban doctors from providing stabilizing emergency medical care to pregnant people. The consequences of their actions have been terrifying-at least six women experiencing life-threatening pregnancy complications in Idaho had to be airlifted to neighboring states for care while numerous obstetricians and doctors who address high-risk pregnancies stopped practicing in the state altogether.

"Today's dismissal offers only a short-term respite in one state. Emergency abortion care will be temporarily restored in Idaho, but abortion bans across our nation that were put in place after a conservative Supreme Court majority reversed Roe v. Wade two years ago will continue to put people's lives at risk every single day. Doctors will continue to face the impossible task of deciding whether their patient is close enough to death before they can intervene.

"We must not let today's decision, or lack thereof, endanger the lives of pregnant people across the nation. Congress must act urgently to restore a nationwide right to abortion and ensure no one is denied their fundamental right to reproductive health care."