The Trump administration has rescinded a Biden-era policy meant to preempt state abortion laws and force emergency room doctors to perform abortions. Under Biden, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) interpreted the 1986 federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) as requiring doctors to perform abortions under a broader set of exceptions than just to preserve the life of the mother in order to “stabilize” a patient, even if the procedure violated state pro-life laws or the doctor’s convictions. HHS cancelled the policy as a move to protect women and their unborn children.

In a press release, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stated that it “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. CMS will work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration’s actions.”

Biden’s EMTALA policy guidance was an attempt to circumvent pro-life state laws with the notion those laws could prevent a woman from receiving emergency care while pregnant. However, EMTALA’s purpose solely requires hospitals to provide emergency care to patients regardless of whether they can pay for it. According to the law’s definition of “emergency medical condition,” the term applies to both a pregnant woman and her unborn baby clearly delineating that there are two patients present. The law requires hospitals to treat both of them.

Dr. William Lile, who is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and who has delivered thousands of babies, told Liberty Counsel that the goal in treating a pregnant woman is always to preserve the lives of both the mother and her unborn baby when possible. 

Dr. Lile stated, “It’s the delivery of the baby that cures the mother’s condition, it’s not the stoppage of baby’s heart and the killing of the baby that helps the mother.”

Biden’s embattled interpretation of EMTALA also did not hold up under legal scrutiny. In July 2022,  Texas and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) challenged the forcing of emergency room doctors to perform abortions. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas and with doctors finding that EMTALA does not require a specific medical treatment or abortion care, nor did it preempt Texas’ abortion law.  In October 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court denied hearing the case leaving the Fifth Circuit decision in place.

In August 2022, the Biden administration had also sued the state of Idaho over its “Defense of Life Act,” a near-total abortion ban, arguing it conflicted with EMTALA. While the U.S. Supreme Court initially took this case, it dismissed the case as “improvidently granted” and returned it to the lower courts. The case was ultimately dissolved when President Trump’s Department of Justice dismissed all federal government claims against Idaho’s pro-life law allowing it to take full effect. Idaho’s law faces a separate but near identical legal challenge from St. Luke’s Hospital System. The case is ongoing and has not yet been decided.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “EMTALA requires doctors to treat both a pregnant woman and her unborn child. Interpreting a so-called requirement to perform abortions in emergency situations grossly misconstrues federal law and rescinding this policy is common sense. EMTALA cannot be conscripted by the abortion lobby to force abortions.”