Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) praised the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for issuing guidance on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) in the Administration’s efforts to safeguard abortion care and protect those who seek lifesaving emergency reproductive care. On Friday, July 8, 2022, Blunt Rochester, along with 47 colleagues, sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting the Administration clarify President Biden’s Executive Order to protect access to reproductive health care in the aftermath of the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The guidance was issued just days after Blunt Rochester wrote to the agency. 

“No one should be denied emergency reproductive health care because their health care professional is afraid of facing legal consequences. In critical medical scenarios where every second counts, we cannot and should not have to wait for our health care professionals to receive permission from their lawyers before moving ahead with lifesaving medical treatment. After the Supreme Court’s attack on Roe v. Wade, all options to protect abortion care must be on the table,” said Rep. Blunt Rochester. “President Biden’s Executive Order last week was an important first step in protecting access to reproductive health care - but it was clear that more needed to be done and that health care providers across the country were in need of additional clarity and confidence when it came to emergency reproductive care. That’s why, along with 47 of my colleagues, I wrote to HHS Secretary Becerra asking that the agency provide that clarity in the form of updated guidance. Today, I’m proud that the Biden-Harris Administration has done just that - showing through this guidance how HHS, and specifically the Center for Medicare and Medicaid, can clarify patient rights as they relate to pregnancy and abortion care.” 

The updated guidance is as follows:

• Abortion can be emergency medical treatment
• EMTALA preempts any state law or mandate that is more restrictive than EMTALA, including an abortion ban that does not provide an exemption for the life of the mother
• Civil monetary penalties can be imposed on hospitals or individual physicians that don’t provide lifesaving reproductive care in violation of EMTALA
• A hospital or individual physician may be excluded from the Medicare program if found to be in violation of EMTALA

The full text of Blunt Rochester’s letter can be found here and the updated guidance from HHS can be found here. 

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