California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, co-led a multistate coalition Tuesday in a legal fight to protect Americans' access to abortion during life-threatening medical emergencies.
In an "amicus curiae" brief, the coalition supported the Biden Administration's defense of its guidance on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which reaffirms the obligations of hospitals, requiring for doctors across the country to perform abortions when needed in emergency situations.
In July 2022, Texas filed a lawsuit challenging the EMTALA guidance, and in August 2022, a judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas barred the guidance from applying in Texas.
In response, California and the coalition wrote in their amicus brief that the district court's ruling, if upheld, would not only endanger Texas patients, but would also have serious repercussions for health care systems in other states.
"Emergency treatment can mean the difference between life and death for a patient," Bonta said.
“Those who seek to exclude abortion from emergency medical care are endangering the lives of countless patients. That's why I support my coalition partners in urging the Fifth Circuit to overturn the Texas court's decision and ensure critical emergency medical care for all. California will not stand idly by as anti-choice states like Texas trample on the rights and protections that allow people to live healthy and secure lives.”
Every hospital in the United States that operates an emergency department and participates in Medicare is subject to EMTALA. Under the law, emergency rooms are required to provide all patients with an emergency medical condition with the necessary treatment to save their lives.
In June 2022, the Biden administration issued guidance reaffirming hospitals' obligation to provide abortion services when necessary to stabilize a patient experiencing an emergency medical condition.
Through a statement, the California Attorney General's Office said that the district court ruling that blocks the application of the EMTALA guideline in Texas has already put the lives of multiple patients at risk by plunging providers into a climate of uncertainty and fear about the legal and criminal repercussions they may face for performing abortions on patients in emergency situations.
In Texas, for example, a pregnant woman who suffered a miscarriage, she said, was forced to carry a dead fetus for two weeks due to her providers' fears of breaking the law in the state.
Another Texas woman who went into preterm labor at 18 weeks was forced to wait until she was too weak to walk, had a 103-degree fever, and contracted sepsis, a life-threatening medical emergency, before her doctors agreed that she she was sick enough to legally terminate her pregnancy.
On March 10, 2023, the Biden Administration filed an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, asking it to reverse the Texas district court ruling.
The amicus brief was led by Attorney General Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James. They were joined by attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania , Rhode Island and Washington.
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