The US state is suing the Biden administration over guidelines ordering doctors to perform abortions when pregnant patients are at risk.
The US state of Texas is suing the Biden administration over recent federal guidelines ordering doctors to perform emergency abortions in cases where a pregnant patient’s life is at risk.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the lawsuit Thursday, accusing the Biden administration of trying to “turn every emergency room in the country into an abortion clinic.”
Earlier this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that a federal law protecting patient access to emergency treatment requires abortions to be performed when doctors believe a person’s life or health is in danger.
The Biden administration has argued that the requirement applies even in states where abortion is now banned in almost all circumstances after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that guaranteed the right to abortion in the United States.
The guidance applies “regardless of any state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures,” HHS said in a memo (PDF) Monday.
“If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting to the emergency department is experiencing a medical emergency . . . and that an abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment.”
The case is the latest example of the legal battles shaping the post- Roe landscape in the US, as conservative states push for restrictions and the federal government and liberal states seek ways to preserve abortion access.
The flurry of legal action has created a sense of confusion about what is and isn’t allowed as courts, state legislatures and the federal government intervene in the abortion debate.
Paxton claims the Biden administration is trying to “get their appointed bureaucrats to order hospitals and emergency physicians to perform abortions,” despite the fact that the guidelines apply to emergency situations.
In Texas, a series of laws prohibit abortion without exception for rape or incest. But Paxton argued in the lawsuit that those laws do not make abortions “for the purpose of saving the life of the mother” illegal. However, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argue that these exemptions are “narrow”.
A judge previously blocked Texas officials from enforcing a passive state abortion ban dating back to 1925, which Paxton said was back in effect after the Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn Roe. Paxton filed an emergency motion asking the state Supreme Court to overturn that decision, which it did on July 2.
White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre denounced the Texas case on Thursday as “yet another example of an extreme and radical Republican elected official.”
“It is unthinkable that this public official would sue to block women from receiving life-saving care in emergency rooms, a right protected by US law,” she said in a statement.
With the protections guaranteed by Roe gone, abortion rights groups have stepped up pressure on the Biden administration to take more aggressive steps to counter the restrictions.
Biden signed an executive order on July 8 directing HHS to protect access to federally approved abortion and birth control pills, and to promote public education efforts about reproductive rights.
Debate has continued within the Democratic Party over how much can be done and what steps can be taken to protect abortion access with Roe vacated, with some progressives decrying what they see as a lack of urgency from party leaders.
Others hope voters will rebuke the GOP in the 2022 midterm elections over recent abortion restrictions.
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