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 kept the current law in place for the time being.
In a letter sent to hospitals and health care providers on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure wrote that a hospital has a legal obligation to provide all patients with necessary stabilizing medical treatment during medical emergencies, even if that means performing an abortion.
The brief noted that while the Supreme Court did not answer the question of whether state abortion bans can override federal law, the ruling does mean that women in Idaho have access to necessary emergency medical care.
“No pregnant woman or her family should have to worry about being denied the treatment she needs to stabilize her medical emergency in the emergency room,” the letter said.
“And yet, we have heard story after story of the experiences of pregnant women presenting to hospital emergency rooms with medical emergencies and being turned away because providers were unsure of what treatment to provide,” the officials wrote.
The case revolved around the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires government-funded hospitals to provide stable care to emergency room patients, regardless of their ability to pay.
Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling overturned Roe v. Wade, HHS quickly invoked EMTALA and sent letters to doctors stating that they were required to perform abortions in medical emergencies when necessary to keep a woman medically stable.
But Idaho argued that the near-total abortion ban exceeds the federal requirement because it has an exception for life but not for health. Idaho argued that states can create an exception for abortion under emergency law if the patient's life is not in danger.
CMS said in the letter Tuesday that it would continue investigating complaints about emergency rooms in Idaho and other states, while litigation in lower courts would continue.
But because the court has failed to act, enforcement in Texas, the most populous state with a strict six-week abortion ban, is still at a standstill due to a lower court ruling.
