California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with 21 other attorneys general, has issued a letter to the American Hospital Association. The letter serves as a reminder of hospitals’ obligations under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to provide emergency abortion care when necessary. This action comes after the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rescinded guidance from 2022 that reinforced these obligations.
Attorney General Bonta emphasized the importance of access to life-saving care in emergencies, including abortion care. “When a medical emergency happens, patients must be assured that they can access life-saving care when they go to the hospital – that includes emergency abortion care,” he stated.
Since its enactment in 1986, EMTALA has required hospitals with emergency departments participating in Medicare to provide necessary healthcare during emergencies. This includes providing abortion care if it is essential to stabilize a pregnant patient with an emergency medical condition.
The letter from Bonta and his colleagues highlights that CMS’s recent rescission does not alter the statutory requirements of EMTALA or judicial interpretations mandating abortion care in specific circumstances. It also addresses concerns about confusion stemming from recent communications by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., which focused on protections for an “unborn child.”
Bonta stressed the severe consequences of denying or delaying necessary abortion care, citing increased risks of serious health issues and mortality rates following restrictive state laws like Texas’s six-week abortion ban.
The coalition of attorneys general supporting this initiative includes representatives from New Jersey, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
A copy of the letter is available for public viewing.
