Press Releases

10/07/2024

Attorney General Tong Statement as U.S. Supreme Court Declines Challenge Regarding Texas Emergency Abortion Care

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong issued the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court today permitted a lower court ruling to remain in place preventing the Biden administration from enforcing the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) against Texas hospitals who decline to provide essential, stabilizing medical care to a patient when the medically necessary care is an abortion. EMTALA guarantees essential emergency care to all individuals by requiring emergency departments to provide all patients who have emergency medical conditions with the treatment required to stabilize their condition.

“Abortion is safe, legal, and protected in Connecticut today, and this disappointing denial by the U.S. Supreme Court does not change that. Instead of protecting the lives and health of women in the most severe of medical emergencies, this decision puts lives at risk. These draconian state abortion bans are not going away, and we’re going to keep fighting in every court, in every state where patients’ lives and freedom are under threat,” said Attorney General Tong.

In July, 2022, after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance to remind hospitals of their existing obligations to comply with EMTALA and to restate existing guidance for hospital staff and physicians in light of new state laws prohibiting or restricting access to abortion. The state of Texas and two organizations brought suit challenging the guidance. The District Court agreed with Texas and issued an injunction prohibiting HHS from enforcing EMTALA as it relates to abortion services against Texas or any members of the plaintiff organizations. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed and the Biden administration petitioned the Supreme Court to review that decision. The Supreme Court has now denied that petition.

Since abortion remains safe and accessible in Connecticut, the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the Biden administration’s appeal is unlikely to directly impact access to emergency medical care in our state. But this decision allowing Texas to maintain standards less protective of women’s health than EMTALA’s requirements poses an immediate risk of harm to all pregnant people in Texas. Further, it could severely erode access to emergency reproductive healthcare in many states and further strain the resources of states like Connecticut where abortion remains legal and accessible.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

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Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

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