Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-726_6jgm.pdf
Page Number: 27.0

4 

MOYLE v. UNITED STATES 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

ever will be.  Apparently, the Court has simply lost the will
to decide the easy but emotional and highly politicized ques-
tion that the case presents.  That is regrettable.

Having already taken the extraordinary step of granting 
certiorari  before  judgment  in  order  to  decide  whether  the 
Government’s new interpretation of EMTALA is correct, we
have  no  good  reason  to  change  course  now.  This  is  espe-
cially so because the Court’s decision to reexamine the stay
issued in January makes it necessary to reassess whether 
Idaho showed a likelihood of success on the merits, a ques-
tion that is closely related to the question whether Idaho or 
the Government has correctly interpreted EMTALA.  I will 
therefore proceed to analyze what EMTALA means. 

I 
A 
The  text  of  EMTALA  shows  clearly  that  it  does  not  re-
quire  hospitals  to  perform  abortions  in  violation  of  Idaho 
law.  To the contrary, EMTALA obligates Medicare-funded
hospitals to treat, not abort, an “unborn child.” 

EMTALA imposes two main obligations on covered hos-
pitals.  First,  a  hospital  must,  within  its  “capabilit[ies],” 
“screen”  “any  individual”  arriving  at  the  emergency  room 
without  regard  to  the 
individual’s  ability  to  pay. 
§§1395dd(a), (h).  The purpose of this screening is to deter-
mine  whether  the  individual  has  an  “emergency  medical 
condition,” which EMTALA defines as follows: 

“a  medical  condition  manifesting  itself  by  acute
symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) 
such that the absence of immediate medical attention 
could reasonably be expected to result in—

“(i) placing the health of the individual (or, with re-
spect to a pregnant woman, the health of the woman or 
her unborn child) in serious jeopardy, 

“(ii) serious impairment to bodily functions, or 
“(iii)  serious  dysfunction  of  any  bodily  organ  or