Oregon Senator Says the Trump Administration is Denying Abortion Patients their Right to Emergency Treatment
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has criticized the Trump administration’s Department of Justice decision to drop a case challenging Idaho’s abortion ban brought by the Biden administration.
Wyden argues that the administration is denying women their federal right to emergency treatment, including emergency abortion care, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) that was enacted in 1986 to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay, and irrespective of any state laws or mandates applying to specific procedures.
Trump is Abandoning Women Everywhere
Wyden says that by abandoning the case, President Donald Trump is ‘abandoning women everywhere’ and that ‘the blood of every woman who has died or who will die is on the hands of the Republicans.’
The Social Security Act requires hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment for patients with emergency medical conditions. Patients should be transferred if a hospital cannot stabilize them, or at the patient’s request.
Idaho has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, prohibiting all abortions. The only exception is abortions necessary ‘to prevent the death of a pregnant woman.’
One in Ten Abortions in Oregon is on Women from Other States
In 2023, one in every 10 abortion patients in Oregon had traveled from another state, with the highest number of patients from Idaho and Washington. Abortions in Oregon represent 1% of all abortions performed in the U.S.
Last December, Wyden released the findings of a Finance Committee investigation – ‘Practicing Amid a Minefield: Emergency Reproductive Health Care Post-Dobbs.’
The report showed hospitals facing state abortion ban challenges do not provide physicians with clear guidelines on protocols for emergency reproductive health care guaranteed by EMTALA.
The investigation also found that doctors fear providing necessary emergency care, even in dire circumstances.
Wyden co-led an amicus brief in October 2024 that urged the Ninth Circuit Court to reaffirm EMTALA mandates to hospitals to provide emergency stabilizing care, including abortion care.
The Finance Committee held a hearing the previous month titled ‘Chaos and Control: How Trump Criminalized Women’s Health Care. Testimony was heard from a patient denied emergency care in Louisiana and an OBGYN who relocated from Idaho to Oregon because of Idaho’s restrictive abortion laws.