Pregnant People Deserve Safe Care; Doctors Deserve to Provide It
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that protects the right to emergency healthcare, including abortion. There has been, post-Dobbs, a clash between these federal protections and states with abortion bans. Amani Echols, Senior Policy Analyst for Maternal Health at the National Partnership for Women and Families and Ashley Kurzweil, Senior Policy Analyst for Reproductive Health and Rights at the National Partnership for Women and Families, sit down to talk with us about this unleashing of chaos and confusion around whether and when emergency abortion care is permitted.
In many states, patient health must deteriorate to an extremely risky state before qualifying for the “health exceptions” to abortion bans that are in place. In addition, hospital closures are occurring around the country after Trump’s recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), and for those who have emergencies in rural communities, that is extremely dangerous. For women of color who often experience dismissal or de-prioritization in medical settings, the pain, stress, and complications are often exacerbated.
Abortion restrictions will no doubt worsen the maternal health crisis in the United States, which has the highest rate of maternal deaths of any other high-income nation. Black and Indigenous women are more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts and are even more likely to experience morbidity or severe maternal morbidity related to their pregnancy.
LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE
National Partnership for Women and Families on X
National Partnership for Women and Families on Instagram
Four Years Post-Dobbs, Clinic Closures and Attacks on Medication Abortion Harm Women of Color Nationwide
OBBBA Is Threatening Women’s Health Care Access
Rural Hospitals—and their Labor and Delivery Units—Face Rising Threat
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Transcript
Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back, a podcast on all things related to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. [music intro]
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Follow the National Partnership for Women and Families on X and Instagram.
Listen to moms and amplify the stories of BIPOC birthing people. You can find NPWF’s research, Four Years Post-Dobbs, Clinic Closures and Attacks on Medication Abortion Harm Women of Color Nationwide, and OBBBA Is Threatening Women’s Health Care Access here.
Call on your elected officials to protect care for pregnant people. EMTALA can be enshrined at the state level, so contact your state representatives and urge them to enforce the law of the land.
Learn more about the closure of rural hospitals in the U.S. in a past podcast featuring Ashley Kurzweil here.