The Trump administration officially rescinded Biden administration-era guidance that attempted to force hospitals to perform abortions in violation of pro-life states’ protections this week because it does “not reflect the policy of this Administration.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced on Tuesday that it will do away with former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra’s demands that hospitals perform abortions as “stabilizing” procedures, even if state law prohibits abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of a woman.
“CMS will continue to enforce EMTALA, which protects all individuals who present to a hospital emergency department seeking examination or treatment, including for identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy,” the statement declares.
CMS also promised to “rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration’s actions.”
The Ronald Reagan administration enacted the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) in 1986 to stop hospitals from turning away patients based on their inability to pay the expenses. The law requires adequate treatment for an “unborn child” but also explicitly does “not preempt any State or local law requirement, except to the extent that the requirement directly conflicts with” EMTALA.
Shortly after the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, however, the CMS, at the behest of an executive order, expanded EMTALA to include abortion as a routine “irrespective of any state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures.”
The Democrat regime then weaponized its redefinition of the law against Idaho for prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape or incest, or if a physician deems it necessary to save the mother’s life.
The Biden administration’s attack on the pro-life law made it all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled 6-3 in 2024 to toss the case back to the leftist San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Trump administration’s Department of Justice, however, formally dropped the Biden administration’s EMTALA attack on Idaho less than three months before CMS repealed the guidance.
Pro-life organizations and doctors celebrated the end of the Biden-era expansions as a win for women and babies.
“As a board-certified ob-gyn for over 30 years, the administration’s change in stance is welcome news for both of my patients—a pregnant woman and her unborn child—whose lives are both prioritized by EMTALA. This coercive effort by the prior administration to subvert existing laws to promote abortion was never necessary, as EMTALA has never been confusing for me or my obstetric peers,” Dr. Ingrid Skop, vice president and director of medical affairs at Charlotte Lozier Institute, wrote. “Every state pro-life law already permitted physicians to intervene immediately in a pregnancy emergency to protect a woman’s life. Although I do not perform elective abortions, I have always been able to provide quality care in obstetric emergencies, seeking to preserve the lives of both mother and child.”