The Biden administration told hospitals on Monday that they “must” provide abortion services if the mother’s life is at risk.
Most important points:
- Federal Emergency Department Act Overrules State Laws, Biden Administration Says
- US federal law requires medical facilities to provide treatment in health emergencies
- The Department of Health and Human Services says this does not reflect a new policy, but is a reminder
It stated that the federal emergency treatment guidelines law anticipates state laws in jurisdictions that now prohibit the procedure without exception after the Supreme Court’s decision to end a constitutional right to abortion.
The Department of Health and Human Services cited requirements for medical facilities in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).
That law requires medical facilities to determine whether a person seeking treatment is in labor or facing a health emergency — or a situation that could develop into an emergency — and to provide treatment.
Loading
“If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting to an emergency department is experiencing a medical emergency as defined by EMTALA, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment needed to resolve that condition, the physician treatment,” the agency’s directive states. †
“When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person — or makes the exception stricter than EMTALA’s definition of medical emergency — that state law is preempted.”
The department said emergencies include “ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss or emerging hypertensive conditions, such as preeclampsia with severe features.”
A letter to health care providers written by Xavier Becerra, secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), stated the importance of the statutory duties of physicians and medical personnel “…to provide stabilizing medical treatment to a patient who presents to the emergency department and is found to have an urgent medical condition”.
That, it reminded practitioners, pre-empts any “directly conflicting state law or mandate that would otherwise prohibit such treatment.”
The department says the guidelines do not reflect new policies, but merely remind physicians and health care providers of their existing obligations under federal law.
“Under federal law, emergency health care providers are required to provide stabilizing care to anyone with a medical emergency, including abortion care if needed, regardless of the state where they reside,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said. .
“CMS will do everything it can to make sure patients get the care they need.”
AP