The Biden administration is reminding hospitals and doctors that they are legally required to perform emergency abortions to stabilize a patient’s health, following a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the current law to remain in effect for now.
In a letter sent to hospitals and provider groups on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said it is a hospital’s legal duty to provide the stabilizing medical treatment necessary for all patients in medical emergencies, even if it means having an abortion.
The letter noted that while the Supreme Court has not resolved the question of whether state abortion bans can override federal law, the order means that women in Idaho, where the case was centered, can access emergency medical care. necessary.
“No pregnant woman or her family should even begin to worry that they will be denied the treatment they need to stabilize their emergency medical condition in the emergency room,” they stated in the letter.
“And yet, we hear story after story describing the experiences of pregnant women who presented to hospital emergency departments with emergency medical conditions and were turned away because medical providers were unsure about the treatment they were allowed to provide. ,” officials wrote.
The case centered on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires federally funded hospitals to provide stabilizing care to emergency room patients regardless of their ability to pay.
Shortly after the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the Department of Health and Human Services quickly invoked EMTALA and sent letters to doctors saying they were required to perform abortions in emergency medical situations when they were necessary to keep a woman medically stable.
But Idaho argued that its near-total ban on abortion nullifies the federal requirement because it has an exception for life but not health. Idaho argued that states can create an exclusion for abortion under the emergency law if the patient’s life is not at risk.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in Tuesday’s letter, said investigations of emergency room complaints would continue in Idaho and other states while litigation continues in lower courts.
But the court’s lack of action means that enforcement in Texas, the nation’s most populous state with a strict six-week abortion ban, will still be suspended due to a lower court ruling.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
