'One-Two Punch': Trump Administration Blocks Lifesaving Abortion Care and Announces Mifepristone Safety 'Review'--All in
(And the fucking, patriarchal, christofascist WAR ON WOMEN continues apace)
‘One-Two Punch’: Trump Administration Blocks Lifesaving Abortion Care and Announces Mifepristone Safety ‘Review’—All in One Day
PUBLISHED 6/4/2025 by Carrie N. Baker
Emergency abortion care and medication abortion come under coordinated attack.
People participate in a “die-in” to support reproductive rights and emergency abortion care outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 24, 2024, as it hears arguments in the Moyle v. United States case, which deals with whether an Idaho abortion law conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). (Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images)
After the Supreme Court terminated the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidance clarifying that hospitals must still follow the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). This law requires hospitals receiving federal funds to provide health-saving and lifesaving abortion care to patients experiencing medical crises, even when state law bans abortion. On Tuesday, June 3, the Trump administration rescinded this guidance. “The Trump administration cannot simply erase four decades of law protecting patients’ lives with the stroke of a pen,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, deputy director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. “Regardless of where they live, pregnant patients have a right to emergency abortion care that will save their health or lives.”
Congress passed EMTALA in 1986, and both Democratic and Republican administrations have interpreted the law to require abortion care necessary to stabilize pregnant women experiencing a medical crisis. “To be clear: This action doesn’t change hospitals’ legal obligations, but it does add to the fear, confusion and dangerous delays patients and providers have faced since the fall of Roe v. Wade,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center. “For decades, EMTALA has protected the ability of all people, including those who are pregnant, to receive life and health saving, stabilizing care in emergency situations,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO for Democracy Forward. “The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw EMTALA guidance guaranteeing pregnant people medical care in emergency situations will sow confusion for providers and endanger the lives and health of pregnant people.”
Women’s health advocates condemned the Trump administration’s politicization of healthcare. “Every American deserves the right to access the necessary care in emergency scenarios, including pregnant people, without political interference,” said Perryman. “Democracy Forward will continue to work with our partners to use all legal tools to defend Americans’ reproductive freedom, promote evidence-based and medically accurate information and care, and oppose efforts that place political ideology over patient care.” Representative Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) condemned the Trump administration’s actions: “In the wake of Dobbs, the Biden-era EMTALA guidance was a reaffirmation of black letter law—that every person has the legal right to emergency stabilizing care no matter where they live. By throwing this important guidance out, the Trump administration is doubling down on the chaos and confusion that is leaving women to die in emergency rooms and hospital parking lots. The decision to rescind the EMTALA guidance—on top of their plot to eviscerate Medicaid and food assistance, defund Planned Parenthood and aggressively track women seeking reproductive healthcare—makes it even clearer: Republicans are determined to become the ‘let them die’ party if not the ‘make them die’ party.”
. . . . .
FDA Chief Vows to Review Mifepristone Safety
On the same day the Trump administration revoked guidance ensuring emergency medical care for pregnant women, the Trump administration made moves toward nationwide restrictions on abortion medications. In response to a letter from Sen. Josh Hawley citing junk science, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary pledged on June 3 to “review” the agency’s regulation of mifepristone after previously stating he had no plans to restrict the medication. In 2023, 63 percent of abortions were done with mifepristone in the U.S. Hawley demanded Makary tightly restrict mifepristone by prohibiting clinicians from prescribing the medication at telehealth appointments, despite overwhelming peer-reviewed research proving telehealth abortion is safe. In a statement, Deidre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer for the American Civil Liberties Union characterized the Trump administration’s actions a “one-two punch,” and as “turning its back on patients who need emergency abortion care to save their lives or health while also having the FDA take steps to make it harder for patients nationwide to access medication abortion. This is a coordinated attack on our reproductive freedom and puts the lives of women in danger. President Trump is breaking his campaign promise not to further undermine access to abortion and playing with fire with the women voters who voted for him.”
https://msmagazine.com/2025/06/04/trump-abortion-emtala-care-block-mifepristone-review/
= new reply since forum marked as read
