The Trump administration has rescinded a Biden administration policy informing hospitals and doctors that they can provide emergency abortions to stabilize pregnant women, even in states restricting abortions.

The Trump administration said on Tuesday, June 3, that Biden’s guidance and communications on emergency abortions “do not reflect the policy of this administration.”
The Biden administration issued the guidance in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which prompted more than a dozen states to enact abortion bans or restrictions.

In 2022, Biden’s health secretary Xavier Becerra issued a letter informing hospitals and doctors that a federal law protects “your clinical judgment and the action that you take to provide stabilizing medical treatment to your pregnant patients” even in states that restricted abortion access. The federal law, called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, requires hospitals that take Medicare or Medicaid payments to diagnose and stabilize anyone seeking emergency medical care.

Becerra’s letter spelled out that such emergency care could include abortion, removal of fallopian tubes or treatments for high blood pressure, even in states that banned abortion or scaled back access. But the Trump administration on Tuesday, June 3, said it has rescinded Becerra’s letter and Biden’s policy guidance on emergency abortions.

The Trump administration will continue to enforce EMTALA, including for “identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy,” according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.