Hospitals that denied emergency abortion broke the law, feds say

A first-of-its-kind federal investigation determined that two hospitals that denied an emergency abortion to a pregnant woman in early labor endangered her life and violated federal law.

The findings, detailed in documents obtained by The Associated Press, warn hospitals as they try to balance dozens of new state laws that ban or severely restrict abortion with a federal obligation for doctors to provide abortions when a woman’s health is at risk. Since the Supreme Court overturned abortion rights last year, the competing edicts have been implemented.

The nation’s top health official stated that federal law, which mandates doctors to treat emergency patients, outweighs state restrictions.

He survived. “But she never should have gone through the terrifying ordeal she experienced,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “We want her, and every patient like her, to know that we will do everything we can to protect their lives and health, and to investigate and enforce the law to the fullest extent of our legal authority, in accordance with court orders.” Two institutions, Freeman Health System in Joplin, Missouri, and University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, declined to offer an abortion to a 17-week-pregnant Missouri woman in August. Both hospitals warned Mylissa Farmer that her fetus would die, that her amniotic fluid had emptied, and that she was at risk for major infection or uterine loss, but they would not terminate the pregnancy because a fetal heartbeat was still detectable.

Farmer visited an Illinois abortion facility.

It dehumanized. It frightened. Farmer, who lives in Joplin, said her experience was horrific. “I felt responsible to do something, say something, and prevent this from happening to another woman. Powerlessness was horrible enough.”

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, Farmer’s complaints prompted CMS’s first investigations. Despite doctors’ warnings, women have reported being denied abortions at hospitals across.

Even when state law prohibits abortions, President Joe Biden has urged hospitals not to turn away patients. The Democratic administration reminded hospitals that federal law required them to give abortions to pregnant women at risk for emergency medical conditions weeks after the Supreme Court’s verdict. Most U.S. hospitals accept Medicare and Medicaid, thus the federal government can examine them for law infractions.

CMS warned the two hospitals that they were violating the rules and asked them to fix the issues that caused Farmer to be turned away, but it did not sanction them. Before ending the investigation, federal Medicare inspectors will contact hospitals.

Missouri bans abortions except in medical emergency. Abortions were lawful in Kansas until 22 weeks when Farmer attended the hospital. Why University of Kansas Health denied Farmer one is unknown. Both hospitals declined to comment.

Doctors everywhere are uncertain how to treat pregnant women, especially in the roughly 20 states where new laws have banned or curtailed care. Some states penalize abortion doctors.

Becerra wrote to hospital and doctor associations on Monday that he expects the investigations will clarify that the institutions must follow the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA.

“While many state laws have recently changed,” Becerra wrote, “it’s important to know that the federal EMTALA requirements have not changed, and continue to require that health care professionals offer treatment, including abortion care, that the provider reasonably determines is necessary to stabilize the patient’s emergency medical condition.”