Utah
How the SCOTUS ruling on Idaho’s emergency abortion ban will affect patient transfers to Utah
SALT LAKE CITY — The United States Supreme Court sidestepped a decision Thursday on whether federal law requires states to provide pregnancy terminations in medical emergencies even in cases where the procedure would otherwise be illegal.
Instead, the court’s opinion – which stems from Idaho’s near-total abortion ban – kicked the legal questions surfaced in the case back to the lower courts and reinstated a previous ruling that will allow doctors in the state to perform emergency abortions in the meantime.
That means women in Idaho are unlikely – at least for now – to be airlifted to nearby states like Utah for the procedure.
“After today, there will be a few months — maybe a few years — during which doctors may no longer need to airlift pregnant patients out of Idaho,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote of the decision’s impact, in an opinion that dissented in part and concurred in part with the broader court’s ruling.
But the dismissal of the case leaves open key legal questions and sets up the potential that the issue of emergency room abortion care will come to the court again in the future.
In her brief, Jackson was critical of the court’s indecision, arguing that the ruling represented “not a victory” for Idaho patients but a “delay” – and that doctors still face the difficult decision of “whether to provide emergency medical care in the midst of highly charged legal circumstances.”
Conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined Jackson and her liberal colleagues, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, in the 6-3 opinion, which was erroneously posted online Wednesday. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented.
In his opinion, Alito also argued that the legal questions in the case – which come as abortion has become a political flashpoint in the U.S. presidential election – should have been decided, saying it was as “ripe for decision as it will ever be.”
“Apparently, the Court has simply lost the will to decide the easy but emotional and highly politicized question that the case presents,” he wrote.
Alito indicated that he would have ruled against the Biden administration’s interpretation that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospital emergency rooms that receive Medicare funding to provide treatment to people experiencing medical emergencies, supersedes Idaho’s abortion ban.
Idaho law allows doctors to terminate a pregnancy for any woman with emergency health complications who is clearly on the brink of death. But it’s quiet on the question of what to do when pregnancy complications put someone’s health at risk but don’t imminently risk her life.
Under threat of jail time and loss of their medical licenses, Idaho doctors said prior to Thursday’s ruling that they sometimes had no choice under such circumstances but to send a woman across state lines by helicopter or advise her to otherwise get to another state for treatment.
“Those transfers measure the difference between the life-threatening conditions Idaho will allow hospitals to treat and the health-threatening conditions it will not,” Kagan wrote in a concurring opinion Thursday.
Some women were transferred to reliably blue states like Washington and Oregon. But Utah’s capital was “one of the places we’ll tend to call first,” Stacy Seyb, a physician specializing in maternal-fetal medicine at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise, told FOX 13 earlier this year.
While abortion remains legal up to 18 weeks in Utah, a near-total ban is currently on hold pending a ruling from the Utah Supreme Court.
Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, sponsored the abortion ban in the House and noted in a statement that “today’s Supreme Court ruling has no direct implications on Utah’s strong pro-life laws, including our trigger law.” “Utah will continue to stand up for policies that protect the unborn,” she added.
Thursday’s ruling does mean doctors in Idaho likely won’t have to airlift patients to Utah and other states, which Planned Parenthood Association of Utah Chief Corporate Affairs Office Shireen Ghorbani called a “small victory.”
“But what should have happened honestly is the Supreme Court should have said you have a right to emergency medical treatment, you’ve had that right for 40 years and you should have the right to an abortion if that is the appropriate medical care for the complication for the experience that you’re having,” she argued.
Regardless of the court’s decision, Ghorbani said she expects some Idaho women will still have to come to Utah for abortion care.
“Twenty two percent of their OBGYNs have left the state, they are running very low on specialists in maternal-fetal medicine,” Ghorbani noted. “That reality has now been created for people who live in Idaho. So there may still be people from Idaho who are seeking emergency medical care in Utah and this is what happens when we ring this bell.”
Recently released data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, showed that 7% of all abortions performed in the state last year were for non-residents coming to Utah from Idaho. The data showed some Utah women also traveled out of state in 2023, to both Nevada and Colorado.
SANDY, Utah (Saturday, June 29, 2024) Utah Royals FC (2-11-2, 8 pts, 14th NWSL) earned a hard-fought point at home, and only its second draw in the Club’s maiden NWSL season, in a difficult but promising goalless draw against the Portland Thorns (7-5-3, 24pts, 5th NWSL) at America First Field on Saturday, June 29, 2024.
In a game URFC mostly dominated, the team delivered an organized, mature, and defensively solid performance to earn a richly deserved third clean sheet of the 2024 campaign. Nigerian international, Ify Onumonu also made an encouraging long-awaited return from injury, coming on in the 66th minute in place of Paige Monaghan.
**\\\*Watch / Listen to Utah Head Coach Amy Rodriguez, veteran Ify Onumonu, and rookie Zoe Burns after 0-0 draw with Portland Thorns FC on Sat., Jun 30, 2024\\\***
The Royals started the game as the better team and generated its first clear-cut opportunity as early as the seventh minute. A turnover in midfield allowed Madison Pogarch to drive up the pitch before playing a pass centrally to Hannah Betfort who took a touch for control before playing a through ball toward the right and into the path of Brecken Mozingo, unmarked and inside the penalty box, but Mozingo’s subsequent curled left-footed effort whistled agonizing over the bar.
URFC generated another chance barely three minutes later when Dana Foederer capitalized on a loose ball high up the field and unleashed a fierce low strike from range that beat Shelby Hogan before rattling the bottom of the post and bouncing away.
Forward Ally Sentnor, playing the number 10 role, also delivered another electric, promising performance echoing her reputation as one of the most talented young players in the country. URFC’s number 9 had a chance for herself in the 15th minute to put the hosts in front. Finding space with the ball on the left side of the penalty box, Sentnor took a few touches to create space for a shot before arrowing a low strike toward the goal from a difficult angle, but her effort was saved by Hogan.
The Royals continued to dominate most of the proceedings and created another glorious chance to go ahead just 10 minutes before halftime. In the 35th minute, a long ball from Mandy Haught was headed on by Mozingo and into the path of Betfort who outmuscled a defender before cutting inside and unleashing a dangerous low right-footed strike which was just narrowly tipped away again by Hogan.
Throughout a promising Royals first half, URFC boasted a higher percentage of possession with 52 percent, including a total of 12 shots and seven coming on target, with the team’s organized, resolute defense also relegating the visitors to merely four shots in total and just one on target throughout the first 45 minutes.
URFC continued its game-state dominance into the second half and continued crafting out clear opportunities in pursuit of a go-ahead goal. In the 62nd minute, Ana Tejada picked out Monaghan on the left wing who drove into the box before whipping the ball across the face of goal towards Betfort who in turn met the pass with a header that just flew wide off the goal. It was another missed chance, but at this point, the Royals were well on top and strutting their stuff on the field.
The Thorns started to gain more momentum in the game towards the midway point of the second half, also creating a few good chances against the run of play but ultimately came up short against an inspired, impenetrable Royals defense.
The hosts created yet another clear opportunity in the 79th minute through a fine attacking sequence. Mozingo received the ball on the right wing before dribbling inside and playing a central pass to Sentnor who in turn played in Onumonu, running in from the left, for a glorious chance, but her curled right-footed effort just flew over the bar.
URFC’s best chance of the game came in the 88th minute from a beautifully worked counter-attacking move. After successfully defending against a corner, the team launched a quick counter-attack, Ally Sentnor assumed possession of the ball in midfield and played a through ball to release Mozingo in behind, putting her in a 2v1 situation alongside Onumonu and up against a single defender. Timing her pass perfectly, Mozingo in turn played in Onumonu for a 1v1 chance with only Hogan to beat in goal, but her subsequent low effort was somehow saved by Hogan, denying the Royals the ecstasy of a late winner in the tie.
Despite then facing relentless pressure from the hosts in the after stages of the match, URFC put up a strong defensive response to share the spoils in the contest and earn a much-needed point at home.
The draw puts the 2024 Utah Royals season record at 2-11-2. URFC next returns to action on the road against Seattle Reign on Sunday, July 7, at Lumen Field with kickoff at 4:00 PM MT.
Utah Royals FC (4-3-3): Mandy Haught; Madison Pogarch (Lauren Flynn, 66), Ana Tejada, Kate Del Fava, Zoe Burns; Dana Foederer, Agnes Nyberg, Ally Sentnor; Paige Monaghan © (Ifeoma Onumonu, 66), Hannah Betfort, Brecken Mozingo
Subs not used: Addisyn Merrick, Kaleigh Riehl, Cameron Tucker, Emily Gray, Cristina Roque
Portland Thorns FC: Shelby Hogan; Becky Sauerbrunn ©, Kelli Hubly, Reyna Reyes, Nicole Payne (Marie Muller, 61), Sam Coffey (Olivia Wade-Katoa, 75), Hina Sugita, Jessie Fleming, Payton Linnehan (Janine Beckie, 61), Ana Dias (Christine Sinclair, 75), Sophia Smith
Subs not used: Emily Alvarado, Isa Obaze, Izzy D’Aquila, Meghan Klingenberg, Marissa Sheva
UTA: Kate Del Fava (Yellow Card, 44), 11 total fouls
POR: Kelli Hubly (Yellow Card, 90), 9 total fouls
According to Tony Jones, the Utah Jazz did not extend a qualifying offer to Micah Ptter making him an unrestricted free agent.
The Utah Jazz will not extend a qualifying offer to Micah Potter, making him an unrestricted free agent, League Sources tell The Athletic. A return is still possible, depending on roster moves, according to sources. Potter does have interest on the market
— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) June 29, 2024
Potter has spent the last two seasons with the Jazz and has spent most of that time playing with the Salt Lake City Stars. For the Stars, Potter has been a good G-League player and has shot the ball well. For the Jazz, in the short time he’s had on the floor, he’s shot the ball well but hasn’t had enough of an impact to gain more minutes.
This is a little bit of a bummer because Potter has been willing to do everything he’s been asked to do. On top of his time with the Stars, he’s also played on multiple summer league teams and has appeared to be a great teammate. Jones mentions that there’s a possibility he could return so we’ll see if that happens, but Potter should garner some interest from another team looking for the shooting and size that Potter brings.
LAS VEGAS (ABC4 Sports) – The Utah Hockey Club had 13 draft picks coming into the 2024 NHL Draft, and they’re not using them on just prospect.
Utah HC traded for two veteran defensemen during the second day of the draft in Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino.
Sergachev, who won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, was acquired for restricted free agent defenseman J.J. Moser, high-scoring center prospect Conor Geekie, a second-round pick in 2025 and Tampa Bay’s seventh-round pick in 2024.
“Mikhail Sergachev is a proven winner and point producer and has been one of the best shut-down defenseman in the NHL for a sustained period of time,” said Bill Armstrong, general manager of Utah Hockey Club..“Mikhail is a top two-way NHL defenseman, and you cannot win in this League without a star, elite defenseman. We are thrilled to welcome Mikhail to our organization and look forward to many years ahead with him leading our blue line.”
Sergachev played 34 games (19 points) last season for the Lightning, having his regular season cut short when he broke his tibia and fibula. But he worked his way back to play two games in their first-round loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
He set career-highs in 2022-23 with 10-54-64 and 53 PIM in 79 games, leading Tampa Bay defensemen in all scoring categories. His 54 assists finished eighth in the NHL and his 23:49 time on ice (TOI) was the 19th-best in the NHL. He also added 1-2-3 in six playoff games.
In seven seasons with the Lightning, Sergachev amassed 48 goals and 209 assists.
Marino was acquired from the New Jersey Devils for the 49th overall pick, Edmonton’s second-round pick in 2025, while sending pick No. 153 back to Utah.i
Marino is entering the fourth year of a six-year contract he signed with Pittsburgh in January 2021, with a cap hit of $4.4 million. He was traded to New Jersey in 2022 and had a strong season in its run to the playoffs but regressed last season.
As a defensive defenseman, Marino has played in 328 games with 18 career goals and 89 assists.
Both Sergachev and Marino had trade protections in their contracts, but waived them to agree to come to Utah.
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