(The Hill) -- The Trump administration has rescinded guidance telling health care workers who provide abortions to save their patients' lives that they are protected under federal law.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Tuesday that it is rescinding guidance issued during the Biden administration, reinforcing to hospitals that under the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) they must provide emergency abortions to pregnant patients if they are needed to save their lives.
“Legally, it means nothing,” Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Freedom Project, told The Hill. “The obligation to provide emergency care comes from a federal statute... and as much as t