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Donald Trump’s administration has decided to abolish a federal requirement that required US hospitals to perform emergency abortions in cases of threat to a woman’s life or health. The decision, announced on Tuesday, has drawn sharp criticism from medical experts and human rights activists, the Associated Press reports.
This refers to a recommendation issued in 2022 by the Joe Biden administration shortly after the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. It guaranteed women the opportunity to terminate a pregnancy in case of medical emergency, such as internal bleeding or the threat of organ loss.
According to Lawrence O. Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University, the repeal of this policy “effectively gives a green light to hospitals in Republican states to deny care to pregnant women, even in critical condition”.
The Biden administration insisted that under the federal EMTALA law (on emergency medical treatment), all hospitals receiving Medicare funds (which includes almost all hospitals in the country) are required to provide treatment to stabilise patients, including emergency abortions if necessary.
However, now that Donald Trump has returned to the White House in January, he is systematically reversing his predecessor’s policies. In addition to the cancellation of the recommendation, two executive orders guaranteeing access to medical abortion have already been cancelled.
The cancellation of the federal guarantee raises serious concerns about the medical safety of women in the United States, especially in states with strict abortion restrictions, where a threat to their lives may go unanswered by the medical system.
