Supreme Court allows emergency abortions in Idaho for now, punts on final decision

Transcript

00:00Washington, minus abortions for gravely ill women, can resume for now in Idaho after a

00:05divided Supreme Court on Thursday reversed its January decision to halt the procedures

00:11and said it shouldn't have gotten involved in the dispute at this stage.

00:15In an unsigned opinion, a majority of the justices returned to the lower courts the

00:20fight over whether a federal law requires hospitals to provide emergency abortions,

00:26leaving the issue unresolved for all states.

00:29The opinion, which was officially released the day after the court briefly published

00:34a draft by accident minus came amid a razor-sharp presidential race in which abortion is a major

00:40issue and it was criticized from both the left and the right.

00:45Justice Katonji Brown-Jackson, one of the three justices appointed by a Democratic president,

00:51said the decision was not a victory for pregnant patients in Idaho.

00:55Prep for the polls, see who is running for president and compare where they stand on

01:00key issues in our voter guide.

01:03It is a delay, she wrote.