Congress, in EMTALA, has given pregnant women with emergency medical conditions the right to stabilizing treatment.
By Michael J. Dell, J.D.
Partner
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Almost two years ago, the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion that had been recognized for almost 50 years.
Now, in Moyle v. United States, the court has strongly hinted that it is ready to eliminate the limited statutory protection for patients who need emergency abortions under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which was enacted by Congress in 1986.
EMTALA requires that Medicare-funded hospitals — essentially all hospitals in the country —provide any patient with “necessary stabilizing treatment” if they have an “emergency medical condition” that could “reasonably be expected to result in” placing their health in “serious jeopardy,” “cause serious impairment to bodily functions” or cause “serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part.” In some cases, that necessary stabilizing treatment is the termination of a pregnancy.
When Justice Samuel Alito handed down his majority opinion in Dobbs, he went out of his way to emphasize, three times, that the issue of abortion should be determined by the people and their elected representatives, which of course includes Congress.
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