0:09 Geoff: The trump administration
0:09 rescinded federal guidance that
0:10 required emergency rooms to
0:11 provide an abortion if the
0:11 procedure would save a patient's
0:12 life.
0:13 That guidance, issued by the
0:13 Biden administration in 2022
0:14 after roe V. Wade was
0:15 overturned, argued a law known
0:15 as the emergency medical
0:22 treatment and active labor act,
0:22 or emtala, required hospitals to
0:23 stabilize a patient's health
0:24 during medical emergencies -
0:25 even in states with near total
0:25 abortion bans.
0:30 Yesterday, the administration
0:31 said the guidance did not
0:32 reflect president trump's
0:33 policy.
0:40 For more on how this will affect
0:41 pregnant women, and access to
0:42 life-saving medical care
0:42 at-large, we're joined by
0:43 special correspondent Sarah
0:45 Varney.
0:49 Why was this implemented in the
0:50 first place? What problem was it
0:52 trying to solve?
0:52 Sarah: President Ronald Reagan
0:56 signed this bill in 1986 kid at
0:58 the time, hospitals were
0:59 routinely turning away patients
1:02 without insurance even when they
1:03 might have life-threatening
1:06 medical conditions so this law
1:07 was written and went into effect
1:09 and said that yards across the
1:10 country that receive medicare
1:13 payments, which is essentially
1:15 every hospital in the united
1:16 States, has two stable lives a
1:26 patient with an emergency
1:26 medical condition before they
1:27 can transfer them.
1:27 Geoff: What did the Biden
1:28 administration require
1:29 post-dobbs and what is the trump
1:29 administration now saying it no
1:30 longer has to be?
1:31 >> A month or so after the dogs
1:34 decision, the Biden
1:34 administration issued a
1:35 memorandum that went out all the
1:37 hospitals around the country
1:38 that receive these medicare
1:39 funds and it reminded them that
1:42 the law was in effect and
1:44 according to the Biden
1:44 administration's reading, it
1:46 meant that even in states that
1:47 have very strict abortion bans
1:49 that women who presented in
1:54 emergency rooms with
1:54 life-threatening medical could
1:56 conditions, if an abortion was
1:58 needed to stabilize her, that
2:00 those hospitals had to provide
2:00 that treatment.
2:03 What the trump administration is
2:04 essentially saying is we are
2:05 rescinding that letter and
2:06 leaving it open to
2:10 interpretation from the
2:11 different hospitals about
2:11 whether or not certain emergency
2:14 medical conditions meet their
2:15 state band.
2:16 Geoff: What state would be most
2:19 affected by this?
2:19 Sarah: There is certain states
2:23 where there no exceptions for
2:24 the health of the pregnant woman
2:25 P.R. Arkansas, Idaho,
2:27 Mississippi, Oklahoma, and south
2:29 Dakota.
2:29 These are some places where a
2:30 pregnant person could go into
2:32 the emergency room and there
2:33 would be some debate about
2:34 whether or not they could have
2:36 an abortion if that was
2:37 necessary to stabilize their
2:38 health.
2:39 Just an example, for instance,
2:42 in South Dakota, they released a
2:43 report last year that showed
2:45 that there were, according to
2:47 their records command zero
2:49 abortions that happened in south
2:59 Dakota hospitals in 2023.
3:00 Geoff: How would this affect a
3:01 pregnant woman in a red state
3:01 versus a blue state?
3:02 Sarah: Even with the Biden
3:03 guidance in effect, there has
3:03 been pretty significant
3:04 differences between the types of
3:05 care that pregnant women have
3:05 gotten in states with abortion
3:06 bans and states without peer the
3:09 associated press did an
3:10 investigation that found dozens
3:11 of women who were turned away
3:12 from emergency rooms including
3:15 when they needed an abortion to
3:16 stabilize their health care.
3:19 Republicans have done
3:22 extraordinary investigative
3:23 reporting, finding women have
3:24 been turned away from emergency
3:25 room's and have not received the
3:27 care they needed.
3:27 They were either armed or in
3:29 some cases, they died.
3:31 We have already seen this divide
3:32 in this patchwork of care
3:36 emerging across the united
3:36 States.
3:37 Geoff: How are antiabortion
3:40 groups responding to this
3:41 announcement?
3:41 Sarah: They are celebrating the
3:44 rescission of this Biden era
3:45 guidance.
3:46 They say exactly not necessary.
3:48 They point to these induced
3:49 termination of pregnancy reports
3:51 as we were just mentioning about
3:53 South Dakota and places like
3:54 Texas where you had 14 abortions
3:57 loosely due to emergency
3:58 situations in Texas in January
3:59 of 2025 so the antiabortion
4:10 groups and lawmakers,
4:11 antiabortion lawmakers say that
4:11 these laws are working as they
4:12 were intended and that women can
4:13 in fact get emergency room care
4:13 when it is necessary.
4:14 Geoff: As I understand it, this
4:16 decision was outlined in project
4:18 2025, that conservative
4:19 blueprint for a second trump
4:20 term.
4:20 Tell us more about that.
4:21 Sarah: It was included in
4:25 project 2025 so we are seeing
4:26 that checked off the list and it
4:27 also calls for the
4:29 administration to stop defending
4:32 existing lawsuits that were held
4:35 over from the Biden
4:36 administration and then there's
4:37 many things in project 2025 that
4:38 have to do with abortion
4:40 including calls for a national
4:41 abortion surveillance program so
4:44 that there would be national
4:44 data for -- about the number of
4:48 abortions that are happening in
4:49 the United States.
4:49 It calls for the reversal of fda
4:51 approval of the abortion pill
4:53 and for the enforcement of the
4:56 Comstock act which would
4:57 essentially cease the mailing of
4:58 abortion pill's around the
4:59 country.
4:59 Geoff: Sarah, thanks again for
5:09 your time this evening.
5:10 Sarah: Thank you.
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