USA - Supreme Court "accidentally" posts abortion ruling online too early
The United States Supreme Court inadvertently published a suspected decision on an abortion case – and then quickly removed it from its website. The spokeswoman for the Supreme Court, Patricia McCabe, announced this on a Wednesday.
McCabe stressed that the judgment in the case had not yet been published and "will be published at the appropriate time." It was not clear from the court's statement whether the document in question was the judgment. However, media reports indicated that the document clearly stated that the court intends to allow abortions in medical emergencies in Idaho.
In this case, it concerns the constitutionality of a strict abortion ban in the conservative state of Idaho. In Idaho, abortions are only allowed in a few exceptional cases, for example, when the life of the mother – not her health – is in danger. According to the Biden administration, emergency rooms are required to perform abortions in medical emergencies. Therefore, it has sued the law. The hearing on the case took place in April. The Supreme Court usually releases decisions in regular intervals regarding the cases discussed in this session.
Newspaper publishes decision on overturned abortion law too early
It is worth noting that such a mishap occurred with the Supreme Court in an abortion case almost two years ago. At that time, the magazine "Politico" published a confidential draft of the Supreme Court's judgment rationale, indicating that the Supreme Court intended to overturn its landmark 1973 abortion ruling. The court confirmed the authenticity of the document but emphasized that it was not the final decision. In the end, in June 2022, the court indeed overturned the right to abortion in the United States.
The controversial abortion case involving Idaho's strict ban is being handled by the Supreme Court in the USA. This misstep of prematurely publishing a potential decision, which was later retracted, echoes a similar incident almost two years ago, where "Politico" published a leaked Supreme Court draft suggesting the overturning of the 1973 abortion ruling in the USA.
The Supreme Court has expressed that despite the published document hinting at allowing abortions in medical emergencies in Idaho, the final judgment on the constitutionality of Idaho's ban has not yet been released, and will be published at an appropriate time.
