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Dear John,
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether emergency abortion care can be singled out and excluded from a federal law that requires hospitals to provide emergency care to all who need it. The truth is pregnancy can be a dangerous health condition and more than half of pregnant people seek emergency treatment at some point during their pregnancy, and sometimes abortion care may be necessary to prevent serious jeopardy to their health or their life. The Supreme Court's decision will determine whether states across the country can ban abortion even in these circumstances—this is just another part of the larger extremist-led strategy to ban abortion nationwide.
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The cases in front of the Court are Idaho v. U.S. and Moyle v. U.S. and concern the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)—a crucial federal law that guarantees that all people nationwide who go to an emergency room at virtually any hospital in the country, with an emergency condition will be treated.
For nearly 40 years, EMTALA has been a pillar of ensuring access to health- and life-saving care for all individuals in times of health care emergencies. But anti-abortion extremists want to *exclude* pregnant people from this protection, and force doctors to turn away patients suffering emergency pregnancy complications, including infection, sepsis, hemorrhage, loss of fertility, and even death. Everyone experiencing a health or life-threatening emergency should be able to get the care they need—including an abortion—without political interference. Period. Full stop. End of story.
In Idaho, Texas, and other states around the country, pregnant people have already been turned away from hospitals, unable to get the emergency abortion care they need. Some have been forced to beg hospitals or courts for that care. Carving abortion care out of EMTALA would further decimate treatment options for patients experiencing pregnancy-related emergencies, increasing the risk of long-term negative health effects and fertility loss. It would deepen the United States’ existing maternal health crisis, particularly for Black, Indigenous, immigrant, rural, and low-income communities. And it would accelerate the exodus of health care providers from states with abortion restrictions, making pregnancy in those states even more dangerous than it already is.
We will do everything in our power to stop that from happening.
Here’s how we’re fighting back:
- Last year we filed a complaint with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) against hospitals that refused to provide emergency abortion care to our client. The Biden administration agreed with us, and CMS announced that these two hospitals violated EMTALA by not providing the abortion care our client needed. This was the first federal enforcement action against a hospital following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade for refusing to provide emergency abortion care.
- Just last week we led a diverse and broad coalition to file 27 briefs with the Supreme Court to ensure the Court is fully considering the implications of this major case. The briefs were filed by major medical organizations, physicians, people denied critical life-saving and health-saving abortion care, former HHS officials, members of Congress, states, cities, counties, prosecutors, public health experts, legal scholars, businesses, advocates for disability rights and survivors of intimate partner violence, abortion funds, and more than 100 gender justice, reproductive rights and justice, civil rights, and labor organizations.
- NWLC is organizing a major rally in front of SCOTUS on the day of the oral arguments to raise our voices and defend the rights of pregnant individuals seeking emergency abortion care. Join us and RSVP here!
Donate now to fight back against extremist abortion bans and discrimination against pregnant people.
Thank you for all you do to fight for what’s right. I’m proud to fight by your side each and every day.
In solidarity,
Fatima Goss Graves
she/her/hers
President and CEO
National Women's Law Center
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