The coming state-federal showdown over abortion - Ziegler and Sepper - CNN

Opinion: The coming state-federal showdown over abortion - CNN

Opinion by Mary Ziegler and Elizabeth Sepper

Updated 11:06 AM ET, Fri August 5, 2022

'No medical standard for what constitutes an emergency': Journalist Annie Lowrey on new abortion laws 13:43

Mary Ziegler is the author of "Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present" and the forthcoming book "Dollars for Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment." Elizabeth Sepper is a professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin and an expert in health law, religion and equality. The views expressed in this commentary are their own. View more opinion on CNN.

(CNN)A woman turned away with an ectopic pregnancy. A miscarrying mother sent home, where she develops an infection. People with severe pregnancy complications left untreated. Within a month of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion bans have thrown emergency care into disarray and put doctors in an impossible bind.

Mary Zeigler

Elizabeth Sepper

Federal law requires physicians to treat pregnant patients in emergencies, providing abortions when necessary, while the law in some states prohibits emergency abortions. A showdown between the federal government and the states is now brewing. The state of Texas is suing the Biden administration to block federal guidance that protects access to emergency abortion care, even in states where abortion is a crime. And on Tuesday, the administration went on the offensive, suing Idaho over its abortion restrictions.

At the heart of both lawsuits is a nearly 40-year-old federal statute, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, known as EMTALA. The law assures that everyone who shows up at the emergency room gets checked out. And if the hospital finds the patient has an "emergency medical condition," it has to stabilize them -- meaning the patient's condition won't worsen when they're discharged. That includes laboring patients, for whom EMTALA guarantees protection.