The Department of Health and Human Services outlined requirements for medical facilities in the Emergency Medical Care and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The law requires medical facilities to determine whether a person seeking treatment may give birth or is experiencing a health emergency — or a condition that could develop into an emergency — and provide treatment. “If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting to an emergency department is experiencing a medical emergency as defined by EMTALA and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment needed to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment “, says the organization’s guidance. . “When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant woman — or makes the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s definition of a medical emergency — that state law is preempted.” The department said emergencies include “ectopic pregnancy, pregnancy loss complications or hypertensive emergencies such as preeclampsia with severe features.” Currently, even states with the strictest abortion bans allow exceptions when the mother’s health is at risk, though the threat of prosecution has confused some doctors. In a letter to health care providers, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote: “It is important that providers know that it is the professional and legal duty of a physician or other qualified medical personnel to provide stabilizing medical care to a patient presenting to the emergency department. circumstances and the existence of a medical emergency is found to preempt any directly conflicting state law or order that might otherwise prohibit such treatment.” The department says its guidance does not reflect the new policy, but simply reminds doctors and providers of their existing obligations under federal law. “Under federal law, emergency providers are required to provide stabilizing care to someone with a medical emergency, including abortion care if necessary, regardless of the state they live in,” said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure , administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid. . “CMS will do everything within our authority to make sure patients get the care they need.” Mississippi’s enabling law, which took effect Thursday, says abortion will only be legal if the woman’s life is in danger or if a pregnancy is caused by rape that has been reported to law enforcement. It has no exception for pregnancies caused by incest. When asked about the Biden administration’s new guidelines, Michelle Williams, chief of staff to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, pointed to the existing exception to Mississippi’s abortion law. “Mississippi law already makes an exception for preserving the life of the mother,” Williams told The Associated Press on Monday. “The Biden administration’s statement on existing law today is about nothing more than perpetuating the false narrative that women’s lives are at risk in order to appease his base.”
Associated Press writer Michael Goldberg in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this report.
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