WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would revoke the 2022 guidance that required hospitals to provide emergency abortions when medically necessary to stabilize a woman’s condition.
Issued after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned national abortion rights, the guidance was introduced by the Biden administration to preserve abortion access in emergencies. It mandated that hospitals, even in states with near-total abortion bans, provide emergency abortions to prevent serious complications like organ loss or severe hemorrhaging under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). The law requires emergency rooms to provide stabilizing care to all patients who need it, and nearly all emergency rooms in the U.S. are funded by Medicare.
The Trump administration’s decision to revoke the policy raised concerns from doctors and abortion rights advocates. They fear that women in states with strict abortion bans will be denied life-saving abortions in emergency situations.
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, criticized the move, saying, “The Trump Administration would rather women die in emergency rooms than receive life-saving abortions.” She argued that pulling back guidance would increase confusion in hospitals where abortion is banned.
Anti-abortion groups, however, supported the revocation. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, claimed the Biden-era policy was a misguided attempt to expand abortion access in states where it was banned, adding that it created unnecessary delays and risks to women’s health.
Despite the revocation, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stated that it would continue to enforce federal laws requiring emergency medical treatment for conditions that jeopardize a pregnant woman’s health. CMS also acknowledged that it would work to clear up any legal confusion stemming from the previous administration’s actions.
The Biden administration has faced legal challenges regarding abortion laws in states like Idaho, where the state’s law initially only permitted abortions to save a woman’s life. The federal government argued that such laws conflicted with federal requirements to provide stabilizing care. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a procedural ruling on the case last year but did not resolve key questions about whether doctors in abortion-ban states could perform emergency abortions to prevent serious harm to women.
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