June 27, 2024

Duckworth Reacts to Supreme Court Decision on Access to Emergency Abortion Care

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement after the Supreme Court opted to not weigh in on whether millions of Americans are guaranteed access to emergency abortion care nationwide—even in states that ban abortion—under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), but instead simply reinstated a lower court’s order that prevents Idaho from enforcing its restrictive abortion ban in cases that conflict with EMTALA while the case continues in the lower courts. Yet, in states like Idaho, women and their doctors can still be criminally prosecuted after receiving or performing an emergency abortion—which is a far cry from the reproductive justice all Americans deserve.

“In this case, the Supreme Court had a chance to strike down anti-choice extremists’ latest effort to further control women’s bodies and protect millions of Americans’ access to emergency medical care—even in states that threaten women and doctors with criminal prosecution through restrictive abortion bans—but they decided not to. As Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson rightly noted, this is not a victory—it’s a delay.

“After this ruling, abortion bans will continue to deny women in Republican-led states across the country the freedom to decide what is best for their own bodies, their families and their futures—a real-life nightmare made possible only because Donald Trump successfully overturned Roe v. Wade, which he brags about on the campaign trail.

“With the Supreme Court failing to take significant action today to ensure no one is denied life-saving care in the ER due to a political agenda, we must remain laser-focused in our efforts to fully protect women’s rights. Senate Democrats will keep pushing to restore Roe’s protections and enshrine full reproductive rights for every American, whether officials in their states care about their rights or not, once and for all.”

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