EQCA - Equality California

06/26/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/26/2024 18:24

Equality California on Leaked Supreme Court Decision Regarding Emergency Abortion Care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2024

CONTACT: Jorge Reyes Salinas, Equality California
PHONE: (213) 355-3057/MOBILE: (213) 355-3057/EMAIL:[email protected]

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Equality California, the nation's largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, issued the following statement from Executive Director Tony Hoang in response to Bloomberg reporting on a leaked draft opinion by the United States Supreme Court in the case Moyle v. United States:

"The Supreme Court's reported decision that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires all hospitals in Idaho to provide critically-needed emergency care to pregnant people could save lives.

However, the Court should never have agreed to hear this case in the first place. Furthermore, as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson opined, by allowing the lower court's original ruling to stand, the Supreme Court has merely delayed a decision on the central question presented here. This case, which seeks to overturn lifesaving federal law, will now continue in lower courts.

Under current law, physicians in Idaho were often faced with an impossible choice: to withhold critical stabilizing treatment required under EMTALA, or to risk criminal state prosecution and the potential loss of their state professional license.

The Supreme Court's Dobbs decision just over two years ago has created profound fear, disruption and legal confusion nationwide, as desperate people are forced to flee hostile states to secure the healthcare they need. We are proud that California provides a safe haven for people who need abortions and gender-affirming care, as well as for medical providers who are committed to supporting their patients but are no longer permitted to practice in their home states."

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Equality California is the nation's largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. We bring the voices of LGBTQ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. www.eqca.org