The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says an Oklahoma hospital did not violate federal law after doctors told a woman with a nonviable pregnancy to wait in the parking lot until her condition worsened enough to qualify for an abortion.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says an Oklahoma hospital did not violate federal law when doctors told a woman with a nonviable pregnancy to wait in the parking lot until her condition worsened enough to qualify for an abortion under the state’s strict ban.

Jaci Statton, 26, was among several women last year who challenged abortion restrictions that went into effect in Republican-led states after the Supreme Court revoked the nationwide right to abortion in 2022.

Rather than join a lawsuit, Statton filed a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The complaint came a little more than a year after Biden’s administration informed hospitals that they must provide abortion services if the mother’s life is at risk. At the time, President Joe Biden’s administration said EMTALA supersedes state abortion bans that don’t have adequate exceptions for medical emergencies.

The Biden administration’s denial of Statton’s claim is the latest development in the ongoing scrutiny over how to apply EMTALA in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. It also underscores the uphill legal battle reproductive rights advocates when pushing back against state abortion bans.

  • Cowlitz@lemmy.world
    31·
    10 months ago

    Biden absolutely should be fighting this battle. I won’t hold my breath as i assume the Supreme Court will butt in but he should at least be trying. I don’t see why he wouldn’t given that it would be politically beneficial… then again ive seen him get more raked over the coals for trying on other issues (like student loans) when others who do less dont get near the scrutiny so politically it might not be all that helpful. Its still the right thing to do though. People are dying and red states have decided they have no obligation to follow EMTALA.

    Things can be emergencies before people are actually in the process of dying. They consider labor an emergency medical condition under EMTALA and the vast majority of the time people dont die from it. Many could even get by with no medical care at all (not that we should do that). If labor fucking counts so should dying a little more slowly than active dying.

    Transferring patients out of the ER does not absolve them. Its disappointing and fucked that this is being allowed to happen.