Even in an emergency, extremist activists want to come between pregnant people and their doctors - Families Usa Skip to Main Content
04.24.2024 / Press Release

Even in an emergency, extremist activists want to come between pregnant people and their doctors

Yael Lehmann, Interim Executive Director of Families USA, issued the following statement today on the Supreme Court hearing the consolidated case (Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States) on whether a state abortion ban conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a nearly 40-year-old law which requires hospitals to provide treatment for emergency medical conditions, including pregnancy complications.

“Anti-abortion extremists continue their relentless assault on our health and reproductive freedoms, this time threatening the ability of pregnant people to access life-saving emergency abortion care.

“Rather than respecting a doctor’s ability to make the right decision about lifesaving care, anti-abortion extremists want to sidestep the law by excluding pregnant people from EMTALA’s protections and criminalize emergency care for abortions that will save lives. Leaving pregnant people hanging in the balance because overzealous radicals want to politicize abortion – despite a majority of voters feeling otherwise – is reprehensible.

“EMTALA is the foundation of our emergency medical system. It guarantees the right of all people to receive stabilizing medical care from a hospital, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, pregnancy status, citizenship, and ability to pay. This case before SCOTUS has terrifying implications on the critical precedent that everyone’s life is worth saving.

“Removing pregnant people’s right to comprehensive emergency health care is part of a broader strategy to ban abortion and reproductive health care across the county. Anti-abortion extremists didn’t stop with their attack on Mifepristone, and they won’t stop with emergency medical care.”

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Families USA, a leading national voice for health care consumers, is dedicated to the achievement of high quality, affordable health care and improved health for all.