WASHINGTON (AP) — A resolution introduced by Democrats in Congress would make it clear that U.S. emergency rooms must perform emergency abortions when a woman’s health or life is in danger, despite states’ strict abortion bans.
In filing the two-page proposal on Thursday, lawmakers cited a report by The Associated Press showing that more than 100 pregnant women have been denied care since 2022.
“It’s outrageous,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a New Jersey Democrat who introduced the House resolution, said of the AP’s findings. “Lives are at stake, and despite clear federal law and additional guidance from the Biden administration, states across the country are refusing to treat pregnant women in emergencies.”
The resolution has little chance of passing a Republican-controlled House in an election year. Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington announced on social media that she would introduce a Senate version of the resolution next week.
Federal law requires that patients who present to emergency rooms receive stabilizing treatment for medical emergencies. But since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the nation’s right to abortion and states have enacted strict abortion bans, confusion and conflict have arisen when pregnant women seek emergency room care in states like Texas, Idaho and Florida.
For example, women who have had their waters ruptured prematurely or a dangerous ectopic pregnancy have been sent home without treatment or, in the worst cases, left to miscarry in public toilets.
The U.S. Supreme Court had a chance earlier this year to resolve the debate over whether federal law applies to emergency abortions, but it declined. Instead, the conservative majority issued a narrow order temporarily allowing Idaho doctors to perform emergency abortions despite the state’s abortion restrictions and sent the case back to the lower courts.
Texas, meanwhile, is suing the Biden administration over its guidance on a law that says emergency rooms must perform abortions if a woman’s health or life is in danger. The case could also end up before the Supreme Court.
The AP’s reporting found violations involving pregnant women across the country, including in states like California and Washington that have no abortion bans. But there was also an immediate spike in complaints involving pregnant women being denied care in states like Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
The story of a Black woman who was charged with a crime after miscarrying at home prompted Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, to introduce the resolution Thursday. Ohio doctors would not terminate her nonviable pregnancy because of the state’s abortion law at the time.
“Let me be clear: women should have access to reproductive health care when they need it, whenever they need it, but especially when they are in a life-threatening situation.”
