John,

Yesterday, the Trump administration quietly reversed federal abortion policy guidance in emergency rooms across the country.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, federal guidance stated that if a pregnant patient came to an emergency room in a serious medical crisis, healthcare providers should give whatever emergency care is necessary to stabilize them–including an abortion, even in states with strict abortion bans.

This move from Trump is an attack on the standard of care for pregnant patients, and will result in more patients being airlifted to different states, more patients experiencing sepsis and loss of future fertility, and more patients left to die while awaiting critical care.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law, protects patients in ERs nationwide. But last year, a clash between state-level abortion bans and EMTALA came to a head in a Supreme Court case that included chilling arguments over how many organs a pregnant patient must lose for the situation to constitute an emergency.

SCOTUS punted the decision, which we knew was to avoid a politically unpopular ruling during a presidential election year. And now, by reversing the federal guidance, the Trump administration is blatantly greenlighting abortion ban states to continue eroding healthcare standards, even in the most dire emergencies.

This is a devastating move —and it’s also exactly why we continue to focus on state and local opportunities to build pro-choice power.

In a world without federal abortion rights—and with increasingly aggressive federal attacks—protections like EMTALA must now be enacted at the state level.

This is what’s at risk in Virginia’s statewide elections this year, where flipping the governor’s seat and maintaining pro-choice power in the General Assembly would pave the way for the passage of a constitutional amendment protecting abortion across the state.

In fact, our endorsed Lieutenant Governor candidate, Ghazala Hashmi, wrote the bill protecting Virginia providers from extreme out-of-state prosecutors.

So while the Trump administration works on dismantling abortion access across the country, state and local leaders are fighting on the frontlines to protect and expand reproductive freedom. Our job is to elect them, and we couldn’t do it without your support.

Thank you for being part of this fight,

Sara Tabatabaie
Executive Director
Vote Pro-Choice