Texas: Court Rules Abortions Not Required Under Emergency Guidance

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Facts

  • The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected the Biden administration’s appeal of a district court ruling that prevented enforcement of the administration’s emergency care law guidance that said hospitals “must” provide abortion services if the mother’s life is at risk.1
  • Texas, which has banned most forms of abortion since the US Supreme Court ended the federal right to abortions in 2022, joined with abortion opponents in suing to stop the guidance, which the administration took from the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) of 1986.1
  • Under the EMTALA, hospitals must provide treatment to stabilize a patient with an emergency medical condition. The guidance specified this would include abortions at hospitals that receive Medicare.2
  • In authoring the ruling, Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt wrote that EMTALA doesn't entitle a pregnant mother to obtain an abortion and it doesn’t “mandate medical treatments” or “preempt Texas law.”3
  • This decision comes a month after the Texas Supreme Court ruled against a woman seeking an emergency abortion because of a non-viable pregnancy. Meanwhile, that court is also handling a lawsuit from 22 women seeking clarification of the medical exceptions in Texas’ abortion law.4

Sources: 1CBS, 2Time, 3The Texas Tribune and 4Reuters.com.

Narratives

  • Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News. When SCOTUS overturned Roe it returned the power to regulate abortions to the states. Federal guidance doesn’t supersede state law in this or any other matter. Texas’ abortion law contains exceptions to protect the life of the mother, but the federal government doesn’t have the right to mandate hospitals to perform specific medical procedures.
  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Washington Post. America should be outraged at how this ruling disregards the safety of women in life-threatening situations related to their pregnancy. This ruling essentially prevents hospitals from acting swiftly during an emergency lest they perform an abortion that doesn’t meet the state’s vague standards necessary for an exception to its abortion ban. This is shameful.

Predictions