A health system at the center of a legal dispute over emergency abortions notified a federal court Tuesday that the Justice Department is dropping its challenge to Idaho's anti-abortion laws.
President Joe Biden's administration contended that hospitals in states with restrictive abortion laws nevertheless are required to provide the procedure in emergencies to preserve the life and health of pregnant patients under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986, known as EMTALA. President Donald Trump, who opposes abortion rights, was expected to change course and now has, according to Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke’s Health System.
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St. Luke’s submitted a brief to the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho on Tuesday saying its attorneys received an email on Monday from an unnamed federal official informing them that the Justice Department intends to withdraw its case against the Idaho laws.
The nonprofit health system quoted the email in its filing: “‘As a courtesy, I wanted to let you know that a few minutes ago I reached out to counsel for the State of Idaho and the Idaho Legislature, informing them that the United States would like to dismiss its claims in the above case, without prejudice, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(ii), which requires "a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared."'" St. Luke's requested that the department submit that document on Wednesday, when a hearing on the case already was scheduled.
Hospitals have been under considerable pressure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The decision ushered in a slew of strict abortion laws, and the Biden administration decided that EMTALA applied to emergency abortions in all states. Providers face the threat of criminal prosecutions under state laws if they perform emergency abortions in certain circumstances, and the danger of exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid if federal authorities determine they violated EMTALA by denying emergency abortions.
The Supreme Court temporarily ruled in part for the federal government in June and sent the case back to the lower court for further consideration. If the Trump administration ends the suit, that wouldn't be necessary.
But St. Luke's filed a separate lawsuit against the Idaho abortion laws on Jan. 14 that is ongoing. On Tuesday, the plaintiff sought a temporary restraining order preventing Idaho from enforcing its law while that case continues. Later that day, Judge Lynn Winmill granted the order over Idaho's objections, and it will remain in force until the court rules on St. Luke's previous plea for a preliminary injunction against the abortion laws. In his order, Winmill predicts that will take two weeks.
The Health and Human Services Department has yet to revoke the 2022 guidance detailing its interpretation of EMTALA regarding emergency abortions and the Justice Department has not yet dropped its defense of this policy in a case Texas brought to preserve its abortion laws.
Trump campaigned as an opponent of abortion rights in 2016, 2020 and 2024, and governed that way in his original stint in the White House. Most notably, Trump won the confirmations of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett during his first term, which tipped the balance on the high court and led to the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling that rescinded the national right to abortion.
The Justice Department and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
