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The Trump administration rescinded Biden-era guidance that explicitly required crisis rooms to provide abortions to pregnant patients if such care would save their lives Healthcare experts expect the initiative 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 Emergency Healthcare Healing and Ongoing Labor Act or EMTALA a federal law that requires physical condition care providers that take Medicare to provide stabilizing clinical rehabilitation to all patients experiencing physiological emergencies In a letter to wellbeing care providers Wellbeing and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccerra wrote that if a medical practitioner believes a pregnant person at an emergency room is experiencing an urgency healthcare condition as defined by EMTALA and that abortion is the stabilizing therapy 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abortion is illegal with exceptions narrower than those in EMTALA In a press release Tuesday the Trump administration rescinded the older guidance stating that the previous rules do not reflect the plan of this Administration The release noted that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid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 wellness 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 pitfall in states that have restricted or banned abortion The Trump Administration would rather women die in crisis rooms than receive life-saving abortions mentioned 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 described The Intercept that the idea that the new guidance puts lives at exposure is false CMS will continue to enforce EMTALA which protects all individuals who present to a hospital crisis department seeking examination or cure including for identified urgency health conditions that place the vitality of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy Department of Healthcare and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon wrote in a message to The Intercept Even before the Trump administration rescinded the Biden-era guidance dozens of pregnant women broadcasted being turned away for emergency therapeutic care since the fall of Roe A ProPublica summary uncovered that at least five women have died as a development of abortion bans since Roe v Wade was overturned The majority reproductive vitality care experts believe the number is far higher than what s been communicated 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 mentioned 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 allegedly 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 peaceful providing lifesaving care to pregnant people I think inevitably it will create a large number of more challenges when it comes to what hospitals are advising their physicians what physicians feel settled 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 event brought by the Biden Administration challenging Idaho s abortion ban on the grounds that it violated EMTALA by prohibiting abortion care in too a large number of circumstances The court ultimately punted refusing to add clarity but allowing exigency abortions to go forward in the state The Trump Department of Justice declined to continue prosecuting the Idaho event 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 Soundness disclosed it s central 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 summary to urgency rooms Perritt reported 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 disclosed It will cause a delay It will give them pause It s striking Perrit revealed to see such guidelines come from an administration that has been masquerading as supportive of families The federal authorities gets to decide who lives and who dies during pregnancy complications during exigency events she disclosed The hypocrisy is really glaring because this is the exact same regime that s claiming to endorsement 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 Hazard by Revoking Urgency Abortion Guidelines for Hospitals appeared first on The Intercept