Amicus: The Jurisprudence of Bleeding Out

Get your tickets for Amicus Live in Washington DC on May 14th here.
We shouldn’t be surprised that we have to keep saying it, but here
we are: the Supreme Court (notably trained as lawyers) will soon
make decisions about how doctors (notably trained as doctors) can
treat pregnant patients in the emergency room. Moyle v. United
States - consolidated with Idaho v. United States - is the result
of an Idaho lawsuit challenging EMTALA, a federal law requiring
hospitals to do whatever they can to stabilize whoever comes
through their ER doors with a medical emergency. Sometimes this
requires abortion care, and for a faction of conservative
advocates, this cannot stand. Ahead of oral arguments the week
after next, we wanted to get a sense of what healthcare looks like
for pregnant women experiencing medical emergencies now, and
how this case threatens to undermine that care in the future. This
week, Dahlia Lithwick speaks with Dr. Dara Kass, an emergency
medicine physician, about what EMTALA was built to do, what ER
physicians are being asked to do, and what will happen should Idaho
prevail in this case. Later in the show, Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern
joins to discuss the hullabaloo over when, if, and how Justice
Sotomayor should be made to retire and the very gendered work of
keeping SCOTUS from going off the rails (any more than it already
has). In today’s bonus episode only for Slate Plus members Dahlia
and Mark discuss the outrageous ruling that creates (but really,
revives) a de facto total ban on abortions in Arizona. They also
explain why the EMTALA case from the show isn’t being talked about
as much as the recent mifepristone case was. Listen to it now by
subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock
exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes of Amicus,
but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite
Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try
Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus
to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad
choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices