Texas Is Getting Predictably Worse On Reproductive Rights

The US government cannot enforce federal guidance in Texas requiring emergency room doctors to perform abortions if necessary to stabilize emergency room patients, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday, siding with the state in a lawsuit accusing Joe Biden’s administration of overstepping its authority.

The ruling by a unanimous panel of the fifth US circuit court of appeals comes amid a wave of lawsuits focusing on when abortions can be provided in states whose abortion bans have exceptions for medical emergencies.

The US department of justice declined to comment. The office of Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and two anti-abortion medical associations that challenged the guidance – the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists and the Christian Medical & Dental Associations – did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Biden administration in July 2022 issued guidance stating that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (Emtala), a federal law governing emergency rooms, can require abortion when necessary to stabilize a patient with a medical emergency, even in states where it is banned. The guidance came soon after the US supreme court overturned its landmark Roe v Wade ruling, which since 1973 had guaranteed a right to abortion nationwide.