On January 20, 2025, the Trump Administration removed the Reproductive Rights website, formerly found at ReproductiveRights.gov. This is a copy of the information found on that site.
Update on Emergency Medical Care
On June 27, the Supreme Court issued its order in Moyle v. United States, reinstating the protections of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) for pregnant women experiencing emergency medical conditions in Idaho. On July 2, the Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter reminding hospitals and provider associations that it is a hospital’s legal duty to offer necessary stabilizing medical treatment, including abortion care (or transfer, if appropriate), to all patients in Medicare-participating hospitals who are found to have an emergency medical condition.
The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to protecting reproductive rights and maintains our long-standing position that women have the right to access the emergency medical care they need. Read statements from President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.
Your Right to Emergency Medical Care
In light of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it’s more important than ever that you know your rights on receiving emergency medical care.
- The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires Medicare-participating hospital emergency departments to offer any person who requests it an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency department.
- If the hospital determines that you have an emergency medical condition, federal law requires the hospital to offer you treatment until your emergency medical condition is stabilized, or an appropriate transfer to another hospital if you need it.
- An emergency medical condition includes any medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms and that, in the absence of immediate medical attention, could reasonably be expected to place the person’s health in serious jeopardy. Emergency medical conditions involving pregnant patients may include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, complications of a pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features. In some instances, the treatment reasonably necessary to stabilize a pregnant woman’s emergency medical condition may be an abortion.
- These federal rights preempt any directly conflicting state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures./li>
1 Please note: pursuant to the injunction in Texas v. Becerra, No. 5:22-CV-185-H (N.D. Tex.), HHS may not enforce the following interpretations contained in the July 11, 2022, CMS guidance (and the corresponding letter sent the same day by HHS Secretary Becerra): (1) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation that Texas abortion laws are preempted by EMTALA; and (2) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation of EMTALA — both as to when an abortion is required and EMTALA’s effect on state laws governing abortion — within the State of Texas or against the members of the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA).
If you are a health care provider:
- For frontline health care providers, EMTALA requires a hospital to provide stabilizing medical treatment to any pregnant patients presenting to the hospital with an emergency medical condition, regardless of any directly conflicting restrictions in the state where you practice.
- This means that physicians and other qualified medical personnel are required by federal law to offer stabilizing medical treatment (or an appropriate transfer) to a patient who presents to the emergency department and is found to have an emergency medical condition. This requirement preempts any directly conflicting state law or mandate that might otherwise prohibit such treatment, such as state prohibitions or restrictions on abortions.
- Stabilizing treatment could include medical and/or surgical interventions (such as abortion, removal of one or both fallopian tubes, anti-hypertensive therapy, or methotrexate therapy), irrespective of any directly conflicting state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures.
- Health care professionals and institutions with religious or conscience objections to providing abortions do not have to do so. To learn more click here.
If you are a patient:
- If you present to the emergency department, you must be offered an appropriate medical screening examination to determine if you have an emergency medical condition. If you do, your health care providers in the emergency department are not permitted to wait until your emergency medical condition deteriorates before they provide stabilizing treatment.
- The enforcement of EMTALA is a complaint driven process. If you or someone you know did not receive the emergency stabilizing medical care to which they were entitled, you can file an EMTALA complaint either by contacting your state’s survey agency or by using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services webform.
- To contact your state’s survey agency, use the tool below.
- To file a complaint with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services click here.