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SCOTUS To Decide If Emergency Room Doctors Are Required To Perform Abortions

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The United States Supreme Court is set to rule this year on whether the federal government can force emergency room physicians to carry out abortions, CBN News reports. Under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, physicians in hospital emergency rooms are required to stabilize patients with medical care; the Biden administration argues this should include abortion.

The current case arose after numerous lawsuits were filed by women in states where abortion has been restricted or banned who said they were not allowed terminations despite having dangerous complications in their pregnancy, CBN reports. Earlier this a federal appeals court in Texas – where abortion is highly restricted – ruled that emergency room physicians are not required to carry out abortions.

Among states which have almost completely banned abortion, some allowance has been made for “medical emergencies.” The Supreme Court will now have to rule on what a medical emergency actually is.

In a statement to CBN News, Dr. Susan Bane, a board member of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) said clarification is essential.”It is the responsibility of hospital systems, the legal system to make sure that doctors and health care practitioners really understand the law because we’re not attorneys,” Bane said.

“The most common ones we see are pre-term ruptured membranes but also hemorrhage, and then high blood pressure that’s severe enough – something called preeclampsia or eclampsia,” Bane added. “When we intervene for medical emergencies, we can do it without an abortion. We can separate the mom and the baby, but our intention is to hopefully have two living individuals when we’re done.”