Texas Attorney General Sue the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services On Thursday, the agency’s response to claims it protects federal abortion access after Supreme Court overturn Roe v Wade is “an attempt to use federal law to convert every emergency room in the nation into a walk-in abortion clinic.”
attic. General Ken Paxton accused President Biden of “defying the Supreme Court’s ruling before the ink was dry, and the bureaucrats he appointed required hospitals and emergency physicians to perform abortions,” The lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Texas.
The attorney general is asking a Texas judge to rule that recently issued federal authorizations and guidance to health care providers to protect abortion access are unconstitutional, claiming they are beyond the scope of federal law and conflict with Texas law.
“The federal executive branch cannot achieve its unlawful policy outcomes by attempting to codify a non-existent federal abortion right,” Paxton said in the filing.
Last week, President Biden issue an executive order“protect access to reproductive health services,” This requires HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to submit a report to the President identifying measures to protect access to medical abortion, ensure emergency medical care for pregnant women and those with abortion, protect access to contraceptives, conduct outreach on abortion education, and Call in volunteer lawyers.
On Monday, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra sent a letter Available to health care providers following an executive order that states that the Emergency Medical Care and Active Labor Act provides federal protections for providers treating pregnant patients, regardless of state law. The bill requires all patients to undergo appropriate physical examination, stabilization, and transfer, regardless of any state law.
EMTALA is part of the Social Security Act, enacted in 1986 to prevent “patient dumping” or denial of patients who cannot afford it. The Texas lawsuit argues that HHS misused EMTALA and that the bill does not provide for any specific treatment.
In Becerra’s letter, he speaks directly about abortion and the protection of providers who deliver abortions.
“It is critical that providers are aware of the professional and legal responsibility of physicians or other qualified medical personnel to provide stable medical care to patients who present to the emergency room and are found to have an urgent medical condition, which takes precedence over any direct Conflicting state law or authorization. Otherwise such treatment may be prohibited,” Becerra said in the letter.
The letter states that medical emergencies involving pregnant patients may include: ectopic pregnancy, complications of miscarriage, emergency hypertensive conditions such as preeclampsia, and more.
“Thus, if a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting to an emergency room (including certain labor and delivery units) is experiencing an emergency medical condition as defined by EMTALA and an abortion is a stable treatment necessary to address the condition, the physician must provide such treatment, ‘ said Becerra.
If doctors violate EMTALA, hospitals could lose their Medicare provider agreements and be forced to pay civil penalties, Becerra said.
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services issued guidelines on Monday requiring providers to perform an abortion if it is stabilizing treatment necessary to address a medical emergency. According to Paxton, the guidelines violate federal law.
“No federal regulation, including EMTALA, can supersede or supersede the powers of states to regulate or prohibit abortion,” Paxton said.
Texas is one of many states with trigger laws that will soon make abortion illegal because Dobbs The decision to transfer abortion rights to the states. A statue in Texas, Human Life Protection Act, Yes eexpected to take effect in Texas 30 days after Supreme Court ruling against Roe v Wade June 24. The law criminalizes abortion unless the life of the pregnant woman is in danger. Potential criminal penalties for violating this law are two years to life in prison and a civil penalty of at least $100,000.
Currently in Texas, complicit in an abortion can be criminally punished unless the abortion was performed on medical advice to save the mother’s life.
As EMTALA guidelines threaten Medicare provider agreements for hospitals that don’t comply, the Texas attorney general said the rule over the past week has forced providers in Texas to offer abortions if they offer abortions or, conversely, do not. will face legal consequences.
“These hospitals now face the threat of having to choose between violating state law and the threat of criminal penalties or jeopardizing their ability to participate in Medicaid,” Paxton said in the filing.
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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