WASHINGTON (AP) — A resolution introduced by Democrats in Congress would make it clear that U.S. emergency rooms must perform emergency abortions when a woman’s health or life is in danger, despite strict state abortion bans.
In introducing the two-page proposal on Thursday, lawmakers cited an Associated Press report that found more than 100 pregnant women have been denied care since 2022.
“It’s a scandal,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat from New Jersey who introduced the resolution in the House, told AP about the findings. “Lives are at risk, and despite clear federal laws and additional guidance from the Biden administration, states across the country are refusing to provide emergency care to pregnant women.”
The resolution has little chance of passing the Republican-dominated House of Representatives in an election year. Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington announced on social media that she would introduce a Senate version of the resolution next week.
Federal law requires patients who present to emergency rooms to receive stabilizing treatment. But since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal right to abortion and states have passed strict abortion bans, confusion and conflict have arisen when pregnant women seek care in emergency rooms in states like Texas, Idaho and Florida.
Women who suffered from, for example, premature rupture of the membranes or a risky ectopic pregnancy were sent home without treatment or, in the worst case, left in public toilets where they suffered a miscarriage.
The U.S. Supreme Court had a chance earlier this year to settle the debate over whether federal law applies to emergency abortions, but it did not do so. Instead, the conservative-majority court issued a narrow order temporarily allowing doctors in Idaho to perform emergency abortions despite the state’s abortion restrictions and sent the case back to the lower courts.
Texas, meanwhile, is suing the Biden administration over its guidance on the law requiring emergency rooms to perform abortions when a woman’s health or life is in danger. The case could also end up in the Supreme Court.
The AP’s reporting found violations involving pregnant women across the country, including in states like California and Washington that do not ban abortion. But even in states like Texas, complaints about pregnant women being denied care immediately spiked after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
The story of a black woman who was charged with a crime for having a miscarriage at home prompted Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes of Ohio to introduce the resolution Thursday. Ohio doctors would not terminate her nonviable pregnancy because of the state’s abortion law at the time.
“Let me be clear: women should have access to reproductive health care when they need it, whenever they need it, but especially when they are in a life-or-death situation.”
