A copy of the document posted online and then deleted suggested the court will dismiss the dispute over Idaho’s abortion law, which means emergency room doctors can perform abortions in Idaho.
Supreme Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe confirmed that the document was “inadvertently and briefly uploaded” to the court’s website, but added that the decision “has not been posted.”
Bloomberg also published a copy of the document. NBC News was unable to independently verify the document. It is not known whether it was a draft decision, the actual decision or neither.
According to the document the court appears willing to allow Idaho emergency physicians to perform abortions in specific situations, Bloomberg reported. The court is likely to dismiss the appeal filed by Idaho officials, Bloomberg said.
In doing so, the court would allow a lower court ruling in favor of the Biden administration to go back into effect. Three conservative justices, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Neil Gorsuch oppose that conclusion, Bloomberg reported.
In January, the Supreme Court blocked the lower court ruling and allowed Idaho to enforce its abortion law in its entirety, while agreeing to hear oral arguments in the case. Other provisions of the ban are already in place and will not be affected by the ruling.
The case concerns whether a federal law regulating emergency room treatment overrides Idaho’s strict abortion ban. But if the court dismisses the appeal, the decision would leave the legal question unresolved.
Bloomberg reported that progressive Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote separately to say the court should have gone ahead and decided the larger issue, which will likely come up in another case in due course and would impact other states with abortion restrictions similar to Idaho’s.
“Today’s decision is not a victory for pregnant patients in Idaho. It’s a delay,” she wrote, according to Bloomberg. “While this court lingers and the country waits, pregnant people experiencing emergency medical conditions remain in a precarious position, as their doctors don’t know what the law requires,” she added.
Idaho law says anyone who performs an abortion is subject to criminal penalties, including up to five years in prison. Health care professionals who have violated the law can lose their professional licenses.
The federal government sued, leading a federal judge in August 2022 to bar the state from enforcing provisions regarding medical care required under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA.
That 1986 law requires that patients receive appropriate emergency room care. The Biden administration argued that care should include abortions in certain situations where a woman’s health is in danger, even if death is not imminent.
The Supreme Court is due to issue rulings on Thursday and Friday as it reaches the end of its current term. The abortion case is one of 12 cases yet to be decided.
This article was originally published in English by Lawrence Hurley, for our sister network NBC News. For more from NBC News click here.