Biden Administration Argues for Federal Abortion Guidance in Appeals Court Amid Texas Challenge

Biden administration appeals district court ruling to uphold 2022 guidance that hospitals must provide abortions in life-threatening cases, asserting the guidance is a restatement of existing policy rather than a new mandate.

The Biden administration has challenged a district court ruling that blocked the enforcement of its 2022 guidance on health care, stating that hospitals must provide abortions for women whose lives are at risk due to pregnancy.
The guidance was blocked after the state of Texas and abortion opponents filed a lawsuit, alleging the federal guidance goes beyond the provisions of Texas law, calling for abortions when there is no emergency and eliminating the need to consider the unborn child's welfare.
The Department of Justice argues the blocked ruling was an error, asserting the guidance is merely restating existing policy under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) that requires hospitals to offer necessary care to any emergency patient, including pregnant women in life-threatening situations.
The guidance, which followed the Supreme Court’s overturning of abortion rights in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, has sparked arguments about its novelty and the reinterpretation of existing laws in a changed legal landscape.
The U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix who blocked the enforcement found that EMTALA requires consideration of the unborn child's welfare when treating a pregnant woman, arguing that Texas law fills this previously unaddressed conflict between the health of the mother and the fetus.