Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on the Supreme Court allowing Idaho to enforce provisions of a strict new abortion ban—which declares anyone who performs an abortion, even in emergency situations, is subject to criminal penalties—while it considers this case. The Court put on hold a lower court ruling that found the state abortion ban conflicted with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The justices said they would hear oral arguments about the case in April.
“The Supreme Court just gave Idaho the green light to throw health care providers in jail for providing emergency abortion care while it considers the case—this could threaten the health and lives of women throughout Idaho. This is a chilling reminder that the anti-abortion movement doesn’t care if women live or die—as long as they are forced to give birth no matter what.
“What we’re seeing today is a direct consequence of Republicans decades-long crusade to roll back Roe and the protections women had enjoyed for decades—we must restore the right to abortion once and for all and put these decisions back in the hands of women and their doctors, not politicians.”
Senator Murray is a longtime leader in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and abortion rights, and she has led Congressional efforts to fight since the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Murray led her colleagues at the very outset of this Congress to make crystal clear that Senate Democrats are continuing to fight to protect every American’s reproductive rights and will be a firewall against Republicans’ continued attacks on women’s rights—and that’s exactly what she’s doing now. Murray has introduced more than a dozen pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, protect providers, and help ensure women get the care they need; she also co-leads the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would restore the right to abortion nationwide. Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, Senator Murray led Senate Democrats in seeking unanimous consent on the Senate floor for four common-sense bills to protect women’s fundamental freedoms.
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