(LifeSiteNews) — The Trump administration officially rescinded Biden-era guidance that used federal law to coerce ER doctors to perform abortions under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). The move affirms the plain words of the statute: EMTALA protects both the “pregnant woman” and the “unborn child.” 

“Doctors — especially in emergency rooms — are tasked with preserving life. The Trump administration has rolled back a harmful Biden-era mandate that compelled doctors to end unborn lives, in violation of their deeply held beliefs,” explained Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) senior counsel Matt Bowman, director of regulatory practice. 

ADF had been representing a group of Catholic physicians and health care providers who had challenged the mandate. 

“Emergency room physicians can and do treat life-threatening conditions such as ectopic pregnancies, and every state allows doctors to do whatever is necessary to preserve the life of a mother,” Bowman said. “Now, doctors will be able to perform their life-giving duties without fear of government officials forcing them to end life and violate their beliefs.”

EMTALA was intended to ensure hospitals do not force low-income or uninsured patients onto other facilities when they are in need of “stabilizing” medical care, according to the law. It also ensures women in labor can have a baby at any hospital, regardless of her financial situation.

However, the Biden administration sought to reinterpret EMTALA to include a right to abortions in the wake of the June 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade. The administration has regularly created new rules and programs by executive fiat in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, including a Pentagon abortion travel memo and ignoring clear federal law that prohibits the mailing of abortion drugs.

The government’s July 2022 guidance stated:

If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting at an emergency department is 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. When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person — or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition — that state law is preempted. 

“Led by Dr. Oz, the Trump administration has delivered another win for life and truth – stopping Biden’s attack on emergency care for both pregnant moms and their unborn children,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, in celebration of the victory. 

Dr. Mehmet Oz is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator. 

“It is a clear fact that pregnant women are protected under pro-life laws. Women can receive care for a miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and any medical emergency in all 50 states,” Dannenfelser said. “Democrats have created confusion on this fact to justify their extremely unpopular agenda for all-trimester abortion. In situations where every minute counts, their lies lead to delayed care and put women in needless, unacceptable danger.”

“As a board-certified OB/GYN for over 30 years, the administration’s change in stance is welcome news for both of my patients — a pregnant woman and her unborn child — whose lives are both prioritized by EMTALA,” declared Ingrid Skop, M.D., FACOG, vice president and director of medical affairs at Charlotte Lozier Institute and a practicing OB/GYN in Texas. 

“This coercive effort by the prior administration to subvert existing laws to promote abortion was never necessary, as EMTALA has never been confusing for me or my obstetric peers. Every state pro-life law already permitted physicians to intervene immediately in a pregnancy emergency to protect a woman’s life,” Skop added.