In the wake of Roe v. Wade’s demise, Biden and federal Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to continue the killing of babies through abortion. Now, the Biden administration is attempting to coopt a Pro-Life law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), to force emergency rooms and hospitals to commit abortions.
EMTALA is a federal law that requires public hospitals to stabilize and care for any patient who needs emergency treatment, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. President Ronald Reagan championed and signed EMTALA into law in 1986 to ensure that vulnerable patients, including pregnant mothers in labor, would receive essential care for themselves and their preborn children. With tragic irony, Biden is now trying to use what has been a life-saving law for almost four decades to sanction the killing of unborn children.
Along with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published memos (CMS, HHS) mandating that a doctor must commit an abortion whenever it is the “necessary stabilizing treatment.” By including abortion within the definition of “stabilizing treatment,” HHS is attempting to radically expand exceptions to Pro-Life laws far beyond just life-threatening emergencies.
In response, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration, calling out HHS and CMS for attempting to impose an “abortion mandate” and “us(ing) federal law to transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic.”
Paxton points out that EMTALA has never authorized the federal government to force doctors to commit abortions and to do so would, in fact, violate several other federal laws.
The Biden administration’s memos unnecessarily confuse the issue of emergency care. Federal and state Pro-Life laws already allow an exception for abortions in the case of endangerment to the mother’s life. EMTALA does require hospitals to provide care in medical emergencies, but Biden erroneously claims that a healthcare worker’s duty to commit abortions as “stabilizing medical treatment” trumps state Pro-Life laws. Biden, the HHS, and CMS are purposely creating vague and incomprehensible guidelines so that the federal government can force Pro-Life states to allow abortion even in non-emergency situations.
As Paxton affirms, Biden’s “abortion mandate” absurdly and falsely insinuates that the federal government can compel a doctor to commit illegal abortions in Texas. Quite the reverse, EMTALA explicitly states that it does not preempt any state or local law.
Paxton’s lawsuit asks the federal Texas Northern District Court to declare Biden’s actions unlawful and prohibit his administration from enforcing what is essentially an abortion mandate. The Biden administration has until September 12 to respond to Paxton’s suit.
Stay tuned to Texas Right to Life for more updates.