The Biden administration said Monday that hospitals must ensure patients can receive abortions when deemed medically necessary in emergency situations in spite of bans in many states on the procedure in most cases.
The Department of Health and Human Services said a federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, stipulates that physicians must perform an abortion in an emergency regardless of state law.
FDA TO CONSIDER FIRST OVER-THE-COUNTER BIRTH CONTROL
“Under the law, no matter where you live, women have the right to emergency care — including abortion care,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Today, in no uncertain terms, we are reinforcing that we expect providers to continue offering these services, and that federal law preempts state abortion bans when needed for emergency care.”
The announcement from HHS on Monday seeks to clarify for healthcare providers what care they are legally authorized to deliver under EMTALA and reconcile that with the patchwork of bans that are vague in their exceptions for instances when a mother’s life is in grave danger.
The Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn Roe v. Wade has thrown physicians into legal limbo. On one hand, they could be prosecuted and even imprisoned for performing an abortion that law enforcement believes was not medically necessary despite healthcare providers’ opinions. On the other hand, they could risk losing patients.
Under EMTALA, healthcare providers at hospitals that accept Medicare and Medicaid must provide emergency care regardless of the patient’s ability to afford it. It was initially intended to prevent patients in need of care from being turned away due to financial constraints. The Biden administration said the federal law trumps all state laws, including bans on life-or-health exceptions.
“Everyone should have access to the health care they need — especially in an emergency,” said Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.
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The announcement from HHS comes just a few days after President Joe Biden issued an executive order aiming to preserve access to medication abortion and emergency contraception as well as to bolster patient privacy protections for women seeking abortions and those who aid them. Abortion rights advocates have been calling on the Biden administration to do more to keep abortion legal and accessible, but Biden’s authority to do so is limited to executive actions.
