Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on Thursday asking a federal court to block the Biden administration’s requirement that physicians and hospitals provide abortions in medical emergencies.
Paxton filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The lawsuit comes after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra issued a memo on Monday telling hospitals and physicians that they are required by federal law to provide abortions in cases where the procedure is necessary to protect the life of a pregnant woman.
Becerra said the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) overrules state laws restricting abortion access in medical emergencies.
The EMTALA “requires that all patients receive an appropriate medical screening examination, stabilizing treatment, and transfer, if necessary,” according to the HHS memo. That requirement exists “irrespective of any state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures,” the memo continues.
Becerra said hospitals and physicians who refuse to comply could have their Medicare provider agreements terminated and face financial penalties.
“Everyone should have access to the health care they need — especially in an emergency,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “Under federal law, providers in emergency situations are required to provide stabilizing care to someone with an emergency medical condition, including abortion care if necessary, regardless of the state where they live.”
Paxton argues that EMTALA does not mandate any specific treatment and is unlawful, unconstitutional, and unenforceable.
Abortion became illegal in Texas after the Supreme Court overruled the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. A 1925 Texas state law banning abortions immediately went back into effect after the ruling.
Texas also has a so-called “trigger law,” passed in 2021, that will go into effect in the coming weeks, which makes performing an abortion a felony punishable by up to life in prison.
The “trigger law” does include an exception if a licensed physician determines that the woman’s life is threatened by continuing with the pregnancy.
“This administration has a hard time following the law, and now they are trying to have their appointed bureaucrats mandate that hospitals and emergency medicine physicians perform abortions,” AG Paxton said in a press release. “I will ensure that President Biden will be forced to comply with the Supreme Court’s important decision concerning abortion and I will not allow him to undermine and distort existing laws to fit his administration’s unlawful agenda.”
Paxton’s lawsuit states that the HHS memo orders all hospital emergency rooms to act as a “walk-in abortion clinic.”
“President Biden is flagrantly disregarding the legislative and democratic process — and flouting the Supreme Court’s ruling before the ink is dry — by having his appointed bureaucrats mandate that hospitals and emergency medicine physicians must perform abortions,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit claims the HHS guidance violates the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal spending from facilitating an abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or the patient’s safety because it ties compliance to Medicare funds and because Justice Department funds would be spent enforcing the law.
The guidance will “coerce healthcare providers to supply abortions outside the allowable scope under the Hyde Amendment,” the lawsuit reads.
The complaint also argues that HHS was required to go through a “notice-and-comment” process required of newly proposed rules from federal agencies. It is worth noting that the HHS memo did not implement a new rule but asserted that the already existing EMTALA should be applied to abortions.
The lawsuit also claims that the HHS guidance violates the Tenth Amendment, along with a law that forbids “arbitrary and capricious” actions by federal agencies.
The White House denounced Paxton’s lawsuit against the HHS guidance to require physicians to provide abortions in medical emergencies.
“This is yet another example of an extreme and radical Republican elected official,” White HousePress Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “It is unthinkable that this public official would sue to block women from receiving life-saving care in emergency rooms, a right protected under U.S. law.”
Paxton’s Democratic challenger for the AG position, Rochelle Garza, also seized the opportunity to denounce her opponent.
“Suing the Biden administration to stop medical exceptions for abortions is just the latest example of his extremist agenda. What he’s advocating for is femicide — the intentional killing of women by withholding life-saving care,” Garza said in a press release.
“This lawsuit does not reflect Texans’ values and we will not sit idly by while Paxton turns our state into a morgue,” Garza added. “As Attorney General, I will keep Texans safe, and that means ensuring that everyone has access to essential medical procedures, including abortions.”