image by: HWN

HWN Suggests

How sick do they have to get?’ Doctors brace for US supreme court hearing on emergency abortions

Lauren Miller used to cry every day on her way to work. A fetal maternal medicine specialist in Idaho, Miller despaired over the possibility she might be forced to tell patients she could not help them. Idaho has one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation, which means Miller could only perform abortions to save a woman’s life – and many patients, even those facing medical emergencies with potentially deadly consequences, were not yet sick enough to qualify. “All I could say is: ‘We have to get them a transport out of state,’” she said. “It just breaks my heart that I knew them and had a relationship with them and couldn’t offer them the same care that I could have given them a year ago”,…

read full article

Featured

 Abortions to Save Mothers’ Lives Are an Agonizing Call for Doctors

When has a pregnant woman’s medical condition deteriorated enough to qualify for an abortion under state law? And at what point might doctors compromise their medical duty to help a patient by not performing an abortion sooner? “Pick your poison,” said Dr. Sarah Osmundson, a maternal-fetal medicine doctor in Nashville, Tenn.

 Supreme Court allows Idaho to offer emergency medical abortions

The opinion did not permanently resolve whether Idaho acted within its rights, or whether the state law is pre-empted by EMTALA. Rather, by a 6-3 vote, the court retreated from a previous ruling that had temporarily allowed Idaho's law to take effect, meaning that emergency abortions were illegal in the state if they were to save a mother's health, but not her life.

 Supreme Court’s nondecision jeopardizes emergency abortion care

By dismissing a case that would have determined whether emergency abortion care is encompassed under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), along with other protected emergency care services, the Supreme Court of the United States has opened the door for states to deny women stabilizing and often lifesaving medical procedures.

Articles of Interest

If you aren’t sure why doctors are leaving Idaho, it’s because you’re not listening to them

Criminalization of doctors providing health care is dangerous for patients, for doctors and for our communities, writes guest columnist Dr. Amelia Huntsberger.

What to Know About the Federal Law at the Heart of the Latest Supreme Court Abortion Case

One of the newest battlefields in the abortion debate is a decades-old federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, known by doctors and health policymakers as EMTALA.

A Review of Exceptions in State Abortion Bans: Implications for the Provision of Abortion Services

Although a lot of attention has been devoted to debates about exceptions in abortion bans, many of these exceptions are not workable in practice. Outside of testimony from providers, it is difficult to assess how many people who qualify for abortion care under the exceptions are actually able to do so, since states underreport or do not report this information. However, it is apparent these bans create barriers to accessing abortion care, even in situations where the exceptions they outline should apply. Most importantly, these bans place the health and lives of pregnant people at risk by potentially preventing physicians from providing medically appropriate care.

Abortion battles shift to medical emergencies, travel

All of the 18 states that have banned or sharply restricted abortion allow exceptions for medical emergencies when continued pregnancy would endanger the mother's life, or, in some states, health. But in practice, according to allegations in multiple lawsuits and public testimony from women, those exceptions are often unavailable because the laws are so vague that physicians are not sure when they apply, and so are unwilling to perform abortions for fear of prosecution.

Can states prevent doctors from giving emergency abortions, even if federal law requires them to do so? The Supreme Court will decide

Hospitals across the country have long operated under the same federal law that says they must treat and stabilize all patients when they have a medical emergency. But in states that now ban abortions and have limited or no health exceptions to these restrictions, medical providers face an impossible situation. They can administer a medically necessary abortion and violate state law, potentially facing jail time and losing their licenses. Or, they can decide not to provide the abortion and violate federal law, potentially resulting in the patient experiencing significant harm or even dying

Kate Cox case reveals toll of US abortion bans on women in medical emergencies

Lawsuits from women denied the procedure despite health risks shows how bans don’t allow for complexities of pregnancy

Medical emergencies collide with abortion bans at Supreme Court

“The purpose of EMTALA was not to create a situation in which one state had to shift its emergency patients to another state to get the basic treatment that they need … and yet that is exactly what Idaho now 40 years later is trying to resurrect throughout the country.”

Patients and Doctors Navigate Conflicting Abortion and Emergency Care Laws

The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade has put medical providers in the tough position of deciding when emergency abortions and other lifesaving procedures are necessary.

Some Abortion Bans Put Patients, Doctors at Risk in Emergencies

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, emergency health care providers in states that ban abortion have had to make wrenching legal and ethical judgments before treating a pregnant woman whose health or life may be in peril. “It’s happening every single day,” said Dr. Jen Villavicencio, lead for equity transformation at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “We’re seeing treatment for ectopic pregnancies being stalled until they rupture and become life-threatening. We’re seeing people with broken water and fetal parts stuck in their vagina sent home until fetal demise occurs or the patient ends up in the ICU because of infection or bleeding.”

What doctors should know about emergency abortions in states with bans

Even though every state has an exception that allows for an abortion needed to save the life of the pregnant person, some physicians report that the political rhetoric around the issue has caused a chilling effect, scaring doctors away from providing needed emergency care. Many physicians fear that if they provide a medically indicated abortion, they will lose their medical license, be sued, or — in some states — be charged with a felony.