Washington D.C. – Today, Doctors for America – represented by Democracy Forward, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, and the National Women’s Law Center – is taking legal action to defend pregnant patients' right to receive, and for physicians to provide, health- and life-saving abortion care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). This federal law has required hospitals with emergency departments to provide stabilizing treatment, including abortion, to patients experiencing medical emergencies for nearly four decades.
Through its intervention, Doctors for America seeks to ensure that the right to emergency abortion care under EMTALA is vigorously defended. Doctors for America’s motion to intervene was filed in Catholic Medical Association v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al., which challenges EMTALA guidance issued in 2022, which reaffirms EMTALA’s protections for pregnant people, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee Nashville Division.
“Doctors should not be forced to choose between following the law and saving a patient’s life,” said Dr. Christine Petrin, President of Doctors for America. “EMTALA was designed to protect patients in crisis. We are fighting to ensure that these protections extend to pregnant patients and that physicians can provide life-saving treatment to them without fear of prosecution.”
For nearly 40 years, EMTALA has been understood by medical providers and the federal government — including both Democratic and Republican administrations — to require abortion care when that care is needed to stabilize pregnant patients in a medical crisis. As today’s motion to intervene emphasizes, stripping away EMTALA’s protections would put doctors in legal chaos and force them to violate their sworn duty: to save lives and prevent harm.
“Pregnant people have suffered needlessly, and some have died, because of the chaos and confusion that abortion bans have caused for patients and their doctors,” said Carrie Flaxman, Senior Legal Advisor at Democracy Forward. “EMTALA has protected the lives and health of pregnant people for nearly four decades -- it is a critical safeguard to ensure that pregnant people receive medical care in emergency situations, including abortion care. Any attempt to undermine EMTALA and its implementation – which will sow confusion for providers and endanger the lives and health of pregnant people – will be met swiftly with action by Democracy Forward, our partners, and our brave clients.”
“When pregnant patients go to the emergency room, they expect to get the care needed to protect their health and lives — but anti-abortion politicians and their allies would rather see women die than access abortion,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, Deputy Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “It is shocking but not surprising that extremists continue pushing to make abortion completely inaccessible, even in emergencies. The ACLU and our partners will not stop fighting against these continued attacks on our reproductive freedom.”
“We are taking action because lives are on the line,” said Emily Martin, Chief Program Officer at the National Women’s Law Center. “Every one of us expects that if we, or someone we love, face a medical emergency, a hospital will do what it takes to save us. But since the Supreme Court lawlessly overturned Roe v. Wade, anti-abortion extremists have wrought legal chaos. As a result, some pregnant patients facing life- and health-threatening emergencies haven’t been able to get the care they urgently need and are entitled to by law. Pregnant people have the right to access emergency care just like anyone else, including emergency abortion care. We will not allow these basic safeguards to be stripped away by extremists. The federal law requiring emergency care be provided to all has been saving lives for decades, and we refuse to let anti-abortion politicians put more pregnant people at risk of immense suffering or even death because they can’t get the care they have the right to receive.”
To read more about the case, click here.
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Democracy Forward is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.
For more than 100 years, the ACLU has worked in courts, legislatures, and communities to protect the constitutional rights of all people. With a nationwide network of offices and millions of members and supporters, the ACLU takes on the toughest civil liberties fights in pursuit of liberty and justice for all. For more information on the ACLU, visit https://www.aclu.org.
The National Women’s Law Center fights for gender justice — in the courts, in public policy, and in our society — working across the issues that are central to the lives of women and girls. We use the law in all its forms to change culture and drive solutions to the gender inequity that shapes our society and to break down the barriers that harm all of us — especially those who face multiple forms of discrimination, including women of color, LGBTQ people, and low-income women and families. For more than 50 years, we have been on the leading edge of every major legal and policy victory for women. Find out more at NWLC.org.
