The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Biden administration appeal involving Texas, leaving unresolved whether physicians in states with the most restrictive abortion laws must perform the procedure in certain emergency circumstances.
The justices handed down their decision on Oct. 7 without offering an explanation, leaving intact a ruling by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Texas.
At the heart of the Texas case is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law that requires emergency rooms in hospitals receiving Medicare funds to provide “necessary stabilizing treatment” to patients who arrive with an “emergency medical condition.” With respect to pregnant women, an emergency medical condition includes one that endangers the health of the woman or her unborn child….