Texas: Judge blocks federal guidance claim that medical emergency care includes abortion

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A District judge in Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday blocked a federal government Guidance that claims emergency medical care includes abortion, even in states where abortion is banned, the Christian Post reports.

Following the reversal of Roe v Wade earlier this year, the US Department of Health and Human Services published a Guidance stating that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires hospitals to provide abortions for a range of reasons, including in Texas where abortion is is prohibited except in medical emergencies, miscarriages or the removal of ectopic pregnancies.

Ruling that EMTALA does not apply to abortions, District Judge James Wesley Hendrix granted the request by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for a preliminary injunction against the Guidance, CP reports.

“That Guidance goes well beyond EMTALA’s text, which protects both mothers and unborn children, is silent as to abortion, and preempts state law only when the two directly conflict,” Judge Hendrix wrote in his decision. “Since the statute is silent on the question, the Guidance cannot answer how doctors should weigh risks to both a mother and her unborn child. Nor can it, in doing so, create a conflict with state law where one does not exist. The Guidance was thus unauthorized.”

Moreover, Hendrix specifically pointed out, that Texas already allows abortions in life-threatening conditions and for the removal of an ectopic or miscarried pregnancy.

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