To the Supreme Court, Idaho has argued that states — not doctors, and not the federal government — should be permitted to decide what kind of emergency medical care women can receive.

As one doctor in the hospital chain to which Glick was repeatedly admitted told the magazine, “It’s very frustrating to have your hands tied because the patient who you need to save is not the one that’s protected by law.”

He cites as examples three recent patients he’s treated for pregnancy-related emergencies — cases he says he and his colleagues encounter “approximately a dozen times per year.”

The first patient was a 22-year-old who was 18 weeks pregnant and arrived at his hospital with a fever, tender uterus, and an elevated heart rate; an ultrasound revealed her water had broken many days earlier.

Cooper described three patients she treated between September 2021 and June 2022, when the Supreme Court delivered its decision overruling Roe v. Wade, eliminating the federal protection for abortion rights.

In another instance, Cooper recalled treating an expectant mother, 20 weeks pregnant, who arrived with acute “right upper abdominal pain” — a telltale symptom of preeclampsia.

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