Trump Puts Lives at Risk by Revoking Emergency Abortion Guidelines for Hospitals

The Trump administration rescinded Biden-era guidance that explicitly required crisis rooms to provide abortions to pregnant patients if such care would save their lives Biological experts expect the approach shift to sow chaos in hospitals and endanger pregnant people throughout the U S In the aftermath of the Supreme Court s move to overturn Roe v Wade the Biden administration issued guidance related to the Exigency Physiological Rehabilitation and Advancing Labor Act or EMTALA a federal law that requires vitality care providers that take Medicare to provide stabilizing physiological therapy to all patients experiencing curative emergencies In a letter to physical condition care providers Medical and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccerra wrote that if a medical practitioner believes a pregnant subject at an urgency room is experiencing an crisis medicinal condition as defined by EMTALA and that abortion is the stabilizing therapy necessary to resolve that condition the physician must provide that rehabilitation The memo also clarified that EMTALA preempts state law in cases where abortion is illegal with exceptions narrower than those in EMTALA In a press release Tuesday the Trump administration rescinded the older guidance stating that the previous rules do not reflect the plan of this Administration The release noted that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration s actions In places where doctors and hospitals are being threatened with both criminal and civil penalties for providing abortion care it will cause a delay Abortion providers and experts in reproductive strength argue that the vagueness of the new guidance will create uncertainty in exigency rooms denying pregnant people equal access to care and putting lives at liability in states that have restricted or banned abortion The Trump Administration would rather women die in exigency rooms than receive life-saving abortions reported Nancy Northup President and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights In pulling back guidance this administration is feeding the fear and confusion that already exists at hospitals in every state where abortion is banned Hospitals need more guidance right now not less The Trump administration communicated The Intercept that the idea that the new guidance puts lives at pitfall is false CMS will continue to enforce EMTALA which protects all individuals who present to a hospital exigency department seeking examination or restoration including for identified crisis health conditions that place the physical condition of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy Department of Wellness and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon wrote in a comment to The Intercept Even before the Trump administration rescinded the Biden-era guidance dozens of pregnant women disclosed being turned away for emergency biological care since the fall of Roe A ProPublica record determined that at least five women have died as a product of abortion bans since Roe v Wade was overturned The greater part reproductive physical condition care experts believe the number is far higher than what s been disclosed Related Drug-Sniffing Police Dogs Are Intercepting Abortion Pills in the Mail We already know that women have died because physicians didn t act because of fear surrounding what they or couldn t do under certain state bans announced Dana Sussman senior vice president at Pregnancy Justice a non-profit reproductive justice organization We know that women have died because they have been scared to get care because they self managed abortions We know that more women will die and we and there are maybe women who have died and we will never know their names Sussman revealed that the new guidance will only make it harder for hospitals to feel content providing lifesaving care to pregnant people I think inevitably it will create multiple more challenges when it comes to what hospitals are advising their physicians what physicians feel assured doing in different states and and I do think that it s putting more lives she disclosed Last year the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a circumstance brought by the Biden Administration challenging Idaho s abortion ban on the grounds that it violated EMTALA by prohibiting abortion care in too multiple circumstances The court ultimately punted refusing to add clarity but allowing crisis abortions to go forward in the state The Trump Department of Justice declined to continue prosecuting the Idaho incident an early signal that it planned to rescind the Biden guidance Jamilla Perritt an OB-GYN and abortion provider in Washington who is also president of the nonprofit Physicians for Reproductive Strength revealed it s crucial to clarify that EMTALA still stands even if the administration has tried to muddy the waters This does not change providers legal obligation to provide life saving care for people when they review to emergency rooms Perritt mentioned The other thing is that it does not change their moral and ethical obligation to do so The confusion caused by this announcement however will carry risks argued Perritt In places where doctors and hospitals are being threatened with both criminal and civil penalties for providing abortion care she reported It will cause a delay It will give them pause It s striking Perrit noted to see such framework come from an administration that has been masquerading as supportive of families The federal establishment gets to decide who lives and who dies during pregnancy complications during urgency events she noted The hypocrisy is really glaring because this is the exact same executive that s claiming to promotion children and families that want people to have more babies but instead it is dismantling the system that protects the lives of pregnant people and their families The post Trump Puts Lives at Jeopardy by Revoking Exigency Abortion Guidelines for Hospitals appeared first on The Intercept