A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously ruled to continue an injunction against the Biden administration’s federal guidance requiring emergency room medical staff to perform abortions.
The panel’s opinion said the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act does not require hospitals to provide abortions.
In a statement, Chelsey Youman with Human Coalition Action said, “We are grateful that the court recognized the authority of states to protect human life and refused to classify abortion as necessary health care.”
Meanwhile, pro abortion groups are condemning the ruling. Senior Staff Attorney Rabia Muqaddam of the pro-choice group the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement that she believed the ruling “shows a complete disregard for the lives of pregnant people.”
The law referenced by the court was passed in 1986 and focuses on “public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay,” requiring hospitals participating in Medicare to provide medical services to all people. The Biden administration was trying to add abortion to the list of emergency services.
Texas law already overlaps the federal law to a significant degree, allowing abortions in life-threatening conditions and for the removal of an ectopic or miscarried pregnancy.