CNA Staff, Jan 3, 2024 / 10:40 am
A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected the Biden administration’s argument that emergency room doctors should be required to perform abortions under federal medical law.
The legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said on Tuesday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that “the Biden administration cannot illegally use federal law to force emergency room doctors to perform abortions.”
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra had said in July 2022, shortly after the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade, that under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) an emergency room doctor “must provide” abortions to pregnant women if it is determined that abortion constitutes a “stabilizing treatment” under EMTALA.
EMTALA, which was passed in 1986, dictates to Medicare-participating hospitals that “all patients receive an appropriate medical screening examination, stabilizing treatment, and transfer, if necessary,” regardless of ability to pay, according to Becerra.