Moyle v. United States

Moyle v. United States arose after Idaho's Defense of Life Act, which criminalizes most abortions, conflicted with EMTALA, a federal law requiring hospitals receiving Medicare funds to provide stabilizing emergency treatment. The United States sued Idaho, arguing EMTALA preempts the state ban when an emergency abortion is necessary to protect a pregnant patient's health. A federal district court enjoined Idaho from enforcing its law in medical-emergency situations, but the Supreme Court initially stayed that injunction. On June 27, 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed the case as improvidently granted without deciding the merits, vacated its stay, and restored the preliminary injunction while litigation continues in the Ninth Circuit.

The Supreme Court dismissed the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted, vacated its earlier stay, and reinstated the district court's preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Idaho's abortion ban in medical emergencies; the underlying merits remain pending before the Ninth Circuit.

Whether EMTALA's requirement to provide stabilizing treatment preempts Idaho's near-total abortion ban when emergency care requires abortion to prevent serious harm to the mother's health, and whether the Supreme Court should have decided the merits.

The ruling temporarily preserved emergency abortion access in Idaho and highlighted unresolved tensions between federal emergency-care obligations and state abortion restrictions, leaving providers and patients in legal uncertainty and influencing ongoing national debates over reproductive rights and federal preemption.