Dear John,

The Supreme Court is hearing yet another abortion case, this time relating to emergency care for pregnant patients when the care they need is abortion. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is a nearly 40-year-old federal law guaranteeing everyone treatment for emergency medical conditions, nationwide. However, anti-abortion extremists are trying to exclude pregnant people from EMTALA’s longstanding protections. They would rather let a pregnant person die or suffer, rather than allow them to receive the emergency abortion care they urgently need. We can’t let that happen.

We’re showing up for pregnant people during oral arguments on Wednesday, April 24 where we’ll be rallying at the Supreme Court. Can you join us next Wednesday morning to show SCOTUS we refuse to let anti-abortion extremists put pregnant patients’ lives at risk?

Rally Details:
Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm ET
Location: U.S. Supreme Court, 1 1st St NE, Washington, DC 20543

The Idaho v. U.S. and Moyle v. U.S Supreme Court cases are part of a broader strategy led by anti-abortion extremists to ban abortion and limit other reproductive health care, such as contraception and fertility care, nationwide.

The National Women’s Law Center is part of a broad coalition of experts in law, medicine, business, reproductive rights, and gender justice that filed 27 amicus briefs with the Supreme Court to explain the devastation that would be wrought by a SCOTUS decision that states can carve pregnant patients out of the full scope of EMTALA’s protections.

If SCOTUS carves pregnant people from EMTALA’s protections, it will disproportionately harm Black and Indigenous women, who already suffer from high maternal mortality and morbidity rates. The decision could also harm those who visit ERs at disproportionate rates, including BIPOC and immigrants, people who live in rural areas, and people with low incomes.

Our fight to protect EMTALA is about putting an end to the cruel and constant attacks on our freedom. It’s about making sure pregnant people, including those who already face high rates of maternal mortality, are able to access their federal right to emergency health care. It’s about saving lives, especially since more than half of pregnant people seek emergency department treatment at some point during their pregnancy. We won’t stop until we win back our rights and expand abortion to be affordable and accessible for all. Join us next week in front of the Supreme Court.

In solidarity,

Gine Berne
she/her
Senior Manager of Campaigns, Reproductive Rights and Health
National Women's Law Center