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The Trump administration<\/span> rescinded Biden-era guidance that explicitly required emergency rooms to provide abortions to pregnant patients if such care would save their lives. Medical experts expect the policy shift to sow chaos in hospitals and endanger pregnant people throughout the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the Supreme Court\u2019s move to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration issued guidance related to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, a federal law that requires health care providers that take Medicare to provide \u201cstabilizing\u201d medical treatment to all patients experiencing medical emergencies.<\/p>\n In a 2022 letter <\/a>to health care providers, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccerra wrote that if a doctor believes a pregnant patient at an emergency room \u201cis experiencing an emergency medical condition as defined by EMTALA, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment.\u201d The memo also clarified that EMTALA preempts state law in cases where abortion is illegal with exceptions narrower than those in EMTALA.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a press release<\/a> Tuesday, the Trump administration rescinded the older guidance, <\/a>stating that the previous rules \u201cdo not reflect the policy of this Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n The release noted that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services \u201cwill work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration\u2019s actions.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIn places where doctors and hospitals are being threatened with both criminal and civil penalties for providing abortion care, it will cause a delay.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Abortion providers and experts in reproductive health argue that the vagueness of the new guidance will create uncertainty in emergency rooms, denying pregnant people equal access to care and putting lives at risk in states that have restricted or banned abortion.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump Administration would rather women die in emergency rooms than receive life-saving abortions,\u201d said Nancy Northup, President and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights. \u201cIn pulling back guidance, this administration is feeding the fear and confusion that already exists at hospitals in every state where abortion is banned. Hospitals need more guidance right now, not less.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration told The Intercept that the idea that the new guidance puts lives at risk is \u201cfalse.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCMS will continue to enforce EMTALA, which protects all individuals who present to a hospital emergency department seeking examination or treatment, including for identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy,\u201d Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon wrote in a statement to The Intercept.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even before the Trump administration rescinded the Biden-era guidance, dozens of pregnant women reported being turned away for emergency medical care<\/a> since the fall of Roe.\u00a0<\/p>\n A ProPublica report found that at least five women have died<\/a> as a result of abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Most reproductive health care experts believe the number is far higher than what\u2019s been reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe already know that women have died because physicians didn\u2019t act because of fear surrounding what they or couldn\u2019t do under certain state bans,\u201d said Dana Sussman, senior vice president at Pregnancy Justice<\/a>, a non-profit reproductive justice organization. \u201cWe know that women have died because they have been scared to get care, because they self managed abortions. We know that more women will die, and we and there are probably women who have died, and we will never know their names.\u201d<\/p>\n Sussman said that the new guidance will only make it harder for hospitals to feel comfortable providing lifesaving care to pregnant people. <\/p>\n \u201cI think inevitably it will create many more challenges when it comes to what hospitals are advising their physicians, what physicians feel comfortable doing in different states and and I do think that it\u2019s putting more lives,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n