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CV NEWS FEED // On behalf of Catholic physicians, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit opposing the Biden administration’s interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires Catholic doctors to perform abortions under “emergency” circumstances.
The ADF stated in a case report on its website that the lawsuit, Catholic Medical Association v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, represents 2,500 Catholic doctors and health care providers. ADF filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division.
The Biden administration announced its intention to require doctors to perform abortions under EMTALA after Dobbs v. Jackson overturned abortion as a federally guaranteed “right.”
The ADF’s report explains, “Shortly after the announcement, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a memorandum stating that EMTALA grants the administration authority to override state pro-life laws, even though EMTALA does not mention abortion.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has already issued protections for doctors in Texas, where abortion is illegal after a heartbeat can be detected, which is around six weeks gestation. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision.
ADF lawyers are arguing that abortions are never a necessary emergency procedure, and thus EMTALA does not require doctors to perform abortions.
“Emergency room physicians can and do treat life-threatening conditions such as ectopic pregnancies. And every state allows doctors to do whatever is necessary to preserve the life of a mother,” ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman stated. “Elective abortion is not life-saving care — it ends the life of the unborn child — and EMTALA does not grant the government authority to force doctors to perform these dangerous procedures.”
Instead, Bowman added, EMTALA requires physicians to treat pregnant women and their unborn children.
