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The Trump administration rescinded Biden-era guidance that explicitly required crisis rooms to provide abortions to pregnant patients if such care would save their lives Therapeutic experts expect the procedures 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 Anatomical Medication and Ongoing Labor Act or EMTALA a federal law that requires soundness care providers that take Medicare to provide stabilizing health healing to all patients experiencing clinical emergencies In a letter to healthcare care providers Soundness and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccerra wrote that if a healthcare provider believes a pregnant person at an emergency room is experiencing an crisis healthcare condition as defined by EMTALA and that abortion is the stabilizing recovery necessary to resolve that condition the physician must provide that remedy 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abortion is illegal with exceptions narrower than those in EMTALA In a press release Tuesday the Trump administration rescinded the older guidance stating that the previous rules do not reflect the approach of this Administration The release noted that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid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 soundness argue that the vagueness of the new guidance will create uncertainty in crisis 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 urgency rooms than receive life-saving abortions noted 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 reported The Intercept that the idea that the new guidance puts lives at hazard is false CMS will continue to enforce EMTALA which protects all individuals who present to a hospital emergency department seeking examination or therapy including for identified crisis biological conditions that place the robustness of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy Department of Wellbeing 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 broadcasted being turned away for emergency health care since the fall of Roe A ProPublica document unveiled that at least five women have died as a consequence of abortion bans since Roe v Wade was overturned Majority reproductive vitality care experts believe the number is far higher than what s been stated 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 explained 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 presumably women who have died and we will never know their names Sussman disclosed that the new guidance will only make it harder for hospitals to feel assured providing lifesaving care to pregnant people I think inevitably it will create a multitude of more challenges when it comes to what hospitals are advising their physicians what physicians feel reassured doing in different states and and I do think that it s putting more lives she declared Last year the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a incident brought by the Biden Administration challenging Idaho s abortion ban on the grounds that it violated EMTALA by prohibiting abortion care in too a great number of circumstances The court ultimately punted refusing to add clarity but allowing urgency abortions to go forward in the state The Trump Department of Justice declined to continue prosecuting the Idaho development 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 Physical condition noted it s essential 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 overview to crisis rooms Perritt disclosed 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 explained It will cause a delay It will give them pause It s striking Perrit stated to see such protocol come from an administration that has been masquerading as supportive of families The federal administration gets to decide who lives and who dies during pregnancy complications during urgency events she commented The hypocrisy is really glaring because this is the exact same ruling body that s claiming to help 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 Vulnerability by Revoking Urgency Abortion Guidelines for Hospitals appeared first on The Intercept