The US state sued the Biden administration for directing doctors to perform abortions when pregnant patients were at risk.
The US state of Texas sued the Biden administration over recent federal guidelines directing doctors to emergency abortion in case the life of the pregnant patient 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 a door-to-door abortion clinic.”
Earlier this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended that federal law protect a patient’s right to access emergency treatment for an abortion when doctors believe the life or health of a people are in danger.
The Biden administration has argued that this requirement applies even in states where abortion is currently banned in almost all cases after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v WadeThe 1973 case secured the right to abortion in the United States.
HHS said in a memo the guidance applies “regardless of state law or regulation that applies to specific procedures” (PDF) in Monday.
“If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting to the emergency department is experiencing a medical emergency… and abortion is the stabilizing treatment needed to resolve the condition, then The doctor must provide that treatment.”
The lawsuit is the latest example of legal battles waged to shape landscape after Roe in the US, as conservative states push for restrictions and the federal government and liberal states seek to maintain access to abortion.
The series of legal actions has created a sense of confusion about what is and isn’t allowed, as all the courts, state legislatures, and the federal government Consider the abortion debate.
Paxton has argued that the Biden administration is trying to “get their appointed officials to require hospitals and emergency physicians to perform abortions,” despite the fact that the guidelines refer to emergency situation.
In Texas, a series of laws ban abortion There are no exceptions for rape or incest. But Paxton argued in the lawsuit that under those laws, abortions performed for “the purpose of saving the mother’s life” are not illegal. However, groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have Debate that those exceptions are “narrow”.
A judge has was previously blocked Texas officials from enforcing the state’s inactive 1925 abortion ban that Paxton said went back into effect following last month’s Supreme Court decision to oust Roe. Paxton filed an urgent petition asking the state’s Supreme Court to overturn that decision, which it made on July 2.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declared the Texas lawsuit on Thursday as “another example of a radical and radical Republican elected official.”
“It is unthinkable that this public official would sue to block women from receiving life-saving care in the emergency room, a right protected under US law,” she said in a statement. statement.
With the protections guaranteed by Roe gone, abortion rights groups have stepped up pressure on the Biden administration to take stronger steps to combat the restrictions.
Biden signed a executive order on July 8, directing HHS to protect access to federally approved contraceptives and abortion pills, as well as advertising public education reproductive rights efforts.
A debate that has continued within the Democratic Party about how much can be done and what steps can be taken to protect access to abortion with Roe has been knocked down, with some progress denouncing what they consider to be lack of urgency from party leaders.
Others hope that voters will deliver a rebuke to Republicans in the 2022 midterms over recent abortion restrictions.
