WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration told hospitals Monday that they “must” provide abortion services if the mother’s life is at risk, saying the federal Emergency Treatment Guidelines Act preempts state laws in jurisdictions that which now ban the procedure without any exceptions following the Supreme Court’s decision to end the constitutional right to abortion.
The Department of Health and Human Services cites requirements for medical facilities in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The law requires medical facilities to determine whether the person seeking treatment is able to give birth or is facing a medical emergency — or one that could become an emergency — and provide treatment.
“If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting to the emergency department is experiencing a medical emergency as defined by EMTALA, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment,” states the agency guidelines. “When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant woman — or makes the exception narrower than EMTALA’s definition of a medical emergency — that state law prevails.”
The department said emergencies include “ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss or emerging hypertensive disorders such as preeclampsia with severe features.”
Currently, even the states with the strictest abortion bans allow exceptions when the mother’s health is at risk, although the threat of prosecution has created confusion for some doctors.
In a letter to health care providers, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote: “It is extremely important that providers know that it is the professional and legal obligation of a physician or other qualified medical personnel to provide stabilizing medical treatment to a patient who presents to the emergency department and being found to have a medical emergency preempts any directly conflicting state law or mandate that might otherwise prohibit such treatment.
The department says its guidance does not reflect a new policy, but merely reminds doctors and providers of their existing obligations under federal law.
“Under federal law, emergency providers are required to provide stabilizing care to someone with a medical emergency, including abortion care if needed, regardless of the state they live in,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks -LaSure. “CMS will do everything within our power to ensure that patients get the care they need.”
Mississippi’s trigger law, which took effect Thursday, says abortion will only be legal if the woman’s life is in danger or if the pregnancy was caused by rape reported to law enforcement. There is no exception for pregnancies caused by incest.
Asked about the Biden administration’s new guidelines, Michelle Williams, chief of staff to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, pointed to the existing exception in Mississippi’s abortion law.
“Mississippi law already makes an exception to preserve the life of the mother,” Williams told The Associated Press on Monday. “The Biden administration’s statement on existing law today is nothing more than perpetuating the false narrative that women’s lives are in danger to appease his base.”
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Associated Press writer Michael Goldberg in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this report.
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For complete AP coverage of the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion, go to
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