WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court justices voiced doubt Wednesday about a strict Idaho law that would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion even for a woman who arrives at a hospital suffering from a serious, but not life-threatening, medical emergency.

Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth B. Prelogar, representing the Biden administration, said such cases are rare and tragic. They are not elective abortions, she said, but pregnancies that have turned into medical emergencies.

Prelogar urged the high court to rule that federal emergency care law applies nationwide and sometimes requires hospitals and their doctors to perform an abortion — regardless of any state restrictions on the procedure — if a pregnant patient's health or life is at risk.

The justices sounded closely split, but Prelogar's argument appeared to gain traction with some conservatives.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned whether Idaho would use its laws to prosecute doctors who perform emergency room abortions. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh also voiced doubt about the state's argument.

Barrett asked a state attorney if the doctors would be prosecuted. The attorney said doctors who act in good faith would be not be in danger, but Barrett did not sound convinced. "What if the prosecutor thought differently?" she asked.

Justice Elegan Kagan said the law has resulted in six pregnant women being airlifted to neighboring states to obtain an abortion.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson were also sharply skeptical of Idaho's argument.

The Biden administration's attorney assured the conservative justices that federal law includes "conscience protections" for doctors and hospitals morally opposed to abortion.

The clash over emergency rooms is the first direct challenge to a state's abortion law to come before the high court since the justices overturned Roe vs. Wade in a 5-4 vote in 2022.

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