State-level policies shielding emergency access to abortion at the state level may soon be the deciding factor in whether a patient receives life-saving treatment or is denied.
Technically, access to abortion in an emergency is protected under the Emergency Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care when patients need it, even if that care includes abortion.
But the reversal of Roe v. Wade has put providers in the precarious position of facing prosecution for standard abortion and miscarriage care, leading to denied care that preceded potentially preventable deaths in states that have strict bans on abortion procedures and introducing ambiguity as to when
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