Emergency doctors must perform abortions to save lives

The Biden administration is requiring emergency room doctors to perform emergency abortions, regardless of the Supreme Court’s ruling on whether state abortion bans override federal law.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure sent a letter to physician and hospital associations on July 2.

In the letter, the two officials remind hospitals that they have a legal obligation to provide stabilizing treatment, including abortions in some cases. “No pregnant woman or her family should have to fear being denied the treatment she needs to stabilize her emergency medical condition in the emergency room,” the letter reads.

“And yet we have heard many stories describing the experiences of pregnant women presenting to hospital emergency rooms with urgent medical issues and being turned away because medical providers were unsure of what treatment they were authorized to provide.”

The administration’s move is one of its latest efforts to raise awareness about a 1986 federal law: the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, also known as EMTALA. According to CNNThe law requires all U.S. hospitals receiving Medicare funds to care for everyone who comes to the emergency room and determine whether the patient has an emergency medical problem.

Hospitals must provide stabilizing care to patients, regardless of their ability to pay for these services. Hospitals that refuse to provide care or turn away patients may be subject to federal investigations, fines, or loss of Medicare funding.

The official warning comes just days after the Supreme Court decided to accept an appeal of Idaho’s strict abortion ban, which prompted a major hospital system to fly some pregnant patients out of state for treatment. The state’s ban criminalizes nearly all abortions and prohibits doctors from performing an abortion even if the pregnancy seriously endangers the patient’s health.

The state of Texas is also in the spotlight for its ban on abortions at six weeks of pregnancy. However, enforcement of that ban is on hold, due to a lower court ruling.

EMTALA was passed in 1989 after hospitals reported refusing to treat uninsured women in labor. Thanks to Congress, EMTALA was expanded to include pregnant women.

pregnant women with contractions. After the Biden administration issued the EMTALA mandate enhancement in 2021 — stating that a physician’s duty to provide stabilizing treatment “preempts any directly conflicting state law or mandate that might otherwise prohibit or prevent such treatment” — it did not specify abortions. In July 2022, the law was amended to include stabilizing abortion care if medically necessary.

Anti-abortion groups like the Texas Alliance for Life have already responded to the letter in defense of Idaho’s law, saying the Biden administration “falsely suggests that pro-life laws in Idaho and other states do not protect women facing life-threatening emergencies during pregnancy.” “This is false,” the group said in a statement.

“All state pro-life laws provide an exception to abortion for

those rare but tragic circumstances in which a pregnancy poses a threat to a mother’s life, including circumstances where death is not imminent. These include Texas and Idaho.” Experts say regulations surrounding emergency room care since the Supreme Court overturned Roe deer not. Wade In 2021, the Supreme Court allowed states to pass their own abortion restriction laws. Since that decision, 41 states have banned abortion with limited exceptions, including in cases of rape and incest. In total, 14 states have a complete ban.

RELATED CONTENT: New Hampshire Teacher Fired After Allegedly Driving Student to Get Abortion