Trump Administration announced on Tuesday that they canceled Biden era guidance that uses federal laws to ask hospitals to stabilize patients who need emergency treatment-including by giving an abortion.
In July 2022, the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services (HHS) Guidance issued That, under the Law on Medical Care and Emergency Labor (EMTALA), the doctor must have an abortion in the Department of Emergency – even in the state where the procedure is illegal – especially if it functions as a “stable medical treatment” for emergency medical conditions.
Emergency medical conditions include, but not limited to, “ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss, or hypertensive disorders that appear, such as preeclampsia with severe features.”
EMTALA, which was passed in 1986, ensured that emergency patients received services and care regardless of the ability to pay. Hospitals that refuse to provide “necessary stabilization care” or “proper transfer” can face civil monetary punishment.
HHS guide is one of the Biden administration efforts to preserve abortion access after the US Supreme Court rejects ROE V. Wade, ended federal protection for abortion rights.
On June 24, 2024, submitting a photo, an activist of the abortion of protests in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC
Aashish Kiphayet/Middle East image via AFP via Getty Images, Files
However, HHS and Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) service centers cancel guidelines, as well The accompanying letter from the former Secretary of HHS Xavier Becerra, says they “do not reflect this administrative policy.”
“CMS will continue to uphold EMTALA, which protects all those who come to the Hospital Emergency Department who are looking for examinations or care, including for an identified emergency medical condition that places the health of a pregnant woman or an unborn child in serious danger,” a press release from the reading agency.
“CMS will work to improve the perceived confusion of the legal and instability created by previous administrative actions,” the press release continued.
In a statement posted on x On Wednesday afternoon, CMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz stated, “Emtalar clear and law unchanged: women will receive treatment for miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, and medical emergencies in all fifty states – this has not and will never change in Trump’s administration.”
Abortion rights groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the government and accused President Donald Trump to go back to the campaign promise not to interfere with abortion access.
“By rescinding this guidance, the trump administration has been sent a clear signal that is siding not with the majority, but with its anti-abortion allies-and that will come at the expense of women’s lives,” Alexa Kolbi-Colbi, a statement. “ACLU will use every lever that we must protect President Trump and his government from endangering our health and lives.”
Alcu said the massacre of the guidelines did not change the hospital’s legal obligations based on the EMTALA law to provide health care and abortion care that saved life.
Biden administrative guidance has faced legal challenges in the past. In January 2024, the Federal Appeals Court decided that the hospital and Texas doctor were not required to conduct emergency abortion despite guidance.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, the Department of Justice rejected the lawsuit filed by the Biden government against the State of Idaho, claiming the prohibition of abortion which almost violated the EMTALA.