Attorney General Jeff Jackson to NC Hospitals: The Law Requires You to Provide Emergency Reproductive Care

RALEIGH – Today, Attorney General Jeff Jackson and 21 other attorneys general urged hospitals nationwide to renew their commitment to existing federal law and continue providing life-saving emergency abortion care to patients.

“Hospitals in North Carolina and across the country are required by law to provide emergency health care to those who need it, including pregnant women facing life-threatening medical emergencies for whom abortion is a life-saving procedure,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “This is not a matter of opinion. North Carolina hospitals must obey the law and work to save their patients.”

The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) requires hospitals in the U.S. to provide vital health care to patients in emergency situations. Under the law, all hospitals participating in the Medicare program must provide abortion care when that care is necessary to treat a medical emergency, regardless of state laws that limit abortion access.

Last month, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rescinded guidance issued to hospitals regarding their EMTALA obligations. But the attorneys general are reiterating that under the law, hospitals must still provide emergency reproductive care. Denying pregnant women the care they need could put them at risk of death or other irreparable medical harms.

You can read the letter to the American Hospital Association here.

Attorney General Jackson was joined in sending this letter by the Attorneys General of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

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