Trump administration scraps Biden-era policy on emergency abortions
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Abortion-rights supporters protesting in April as the US Supreme Court heard arguments over the legality of Idaho state's near-total abortion ban.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s administration on June 3 rescinded guidance issued during his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden’s tenure requiring hospitals to provide abortions to women in medical emergencies
The US Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the 2022 guidance, which interpreted a federal law that ensures patients can receive emergency “stabilising care” as pre-empting state abortion bans, did not reflect the policy of the Trump administration.
The agency, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, said it “will work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration’s actions”.
The Biden administration issued the guidance in July 2022 weeks after the 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that had recognised a nationwide right of women to obtain abortions.
The 2022 guidance reminded healthcare providers across the country of their obligations under a 1986 federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labour Act (EMTALA) to ensure Medicare-participating hospitals offer emergency care stabilising patients, regardless of their ability to pay.
Medicare is the government healthcare programme for the elderly. Hospitals that violate EMTALA risk losing Medicare funding.
The 2022 guidance aimed to make clear that under EMTALA, physicians must provide a woman an abortion if needed to resolve a medical emergency and stabilise the patient even in states where the procedure is banned, and that the federal law pre-empted any state laws that offer no exceptions for medical emergencies.
After issuing the guidance, the Department of Justice sued the state of Idaho in a bid to stop it from enforcing its near-total abortion ban in medical emergencies.
A federal judge at the Justice Department’s urging blocked Idaho from enforcing the ban during medical emergencies, but the Trump administration in March dropped that lawsuit, resulting in that injunction being lifted.
The ban still remains blocked in emergencies, owing to a similar lawsuit brought by a hospital system. REUTERS
