Federal appellate judges provided a significant victory for the pro-life movement on Tuesday.
A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the federal government cannot enforce guidance forcing doctors to perform abortions on emergency room patients, Reuters reported.
The legal challenge, which was brought by the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and two pro-life organizations, argued that the Biden administration’s guidance on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act overstepped the executive’s authority.
President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services issued the guidance in July 2022.
“Under the law, no matter where you live, women have the right to emergency care — including abortion care,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement at the time. “Today, in no uncertain terms, we are reinforcing that we expect providers to continue offering these services, and that federal law preempts state abortion bans when needed for emergency care.”
In his legal opinion, Circuit Judge Kurt Engelhardt — who was nominated to the court by former President Donald Trump — disagreed.
“EMTALA does not govern the practice of medicine,” Engelhardt wrote. “While EMTALA directs physicians to stabilize patients once an emergency medical condition has been diagnosed … the practice of medicine is to be governed by the states.”
“EMTALA does not mandate medical treatments, let alone abortion care, nor does it preempt Texas law,” he said.
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“The injunction squarely enjoins HHS from enforcing the Guidance and Letter regarding these two issues within the State of Texas and against the plaintiff organizations,” the judge wrote.
Great News: Another federal court rejects Biden regime’s efforts to force doctors and hospitals to kill unborn human beings. https://t.co/Y8FMGg7k07
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) January 3, 2024
Chelsey Youman, a national legislative adviser with Human Coalition Action, told The Christian Post that she was grateful for the judges’ decision.
“We are grateful that the court recognized the authority of states to protect human life and refused to classify abortion as necessary health care,” Youman said.
“Texas has led the way in protecting innocent human life, and we are grateful to Attorney General Paxton for upholding the transformative pro-life laws of the state,” she continued.
The news was not met so cheerily by pro-abortion activists, with Rabia Muqaddam, a senior staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, telling Time magazine that the ruling showed a “complete disregard for the lives of pregnant people.”
Meanwhile, a CRC spokeswoman complained that stated exceptions to the rule remain “incredibly unclear and doctors are terrified to rely on these vague exceptions when they could face life in prison.”
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Texas was one of the many Republican-led states to enact legislation protecting the lives of the unborn.
As noted by The Texas Tribune, the state’s current abortion law prohibits the procedure in nearly all cases, except for when the mother’s life is in danger or if the pregnancy is causing a “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
