Guidelines intended to maintain some protections for the right to abortion with an interpretation of the 1986 emergency medical treatment and delivery law
The government of announced on Tuesday (3) the revocation of the recommendations promulgated by its democratic predecessor, who granted protection to hospitals that perform emergency abortions. The recommendation, which required hospitals to perform emergency miscarriages when women’s health was at risk, including state -restricted states, was revoked by a division of the Department of Health, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Biden government published the recommendations in July 2022 after the Supreme Court revokes the right to abortion at the federal level. The guidelines intended to maintain some protections for the right to abortion with an interpretation of the 1986 emergency medical treatment and birth.
Now, the official recommendation presents its own interpretation of the law and states that any hospitalized patient has the right to receive “appropriate stabilizing or transfer treatment to another hospital”. Despite the revocation of the stretch on abortion protections, the general law that enshrines the right of the person to receive emergency medical services remains in force. “Patients, including pregnant people, have the full rights and protections established by this federal law,” concludes the memorandum released on Tuesday. The document indicates that the Health Department cannot impose the interpretation of the law “when an abortion is necessary” on state laws that regulate the procedure. The Guttmacher Institute, an defender of the right to abortion, stated that the revocation of the law guidelines known as Emtala by the Trump government demonstrates “a cruel contempt for the law and life of people.”
Lawrence O. Gostin, Georgetown University Health Rights expert, wrote at the New York Times that the new guideline “basically gives hospitals in conservative states refuse pregnant women in danger.” According to Guttmacher, 13 US states, especially in the south and east, have “a total ban on abortion.” This is Trump’s latest action and his government to restrict access to the procedure. In the first week of the second term, the Republican revoked two Biden signed executive orders that protected access to abortive pills and the possibility of traveling to states where the interruption of pregnancy is not prohibited.
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from AFP
