Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Texas Votes Respond to Texas Suing Biden Administration Over Abortion in Emergency Medical Situations
For Immediate Release: July 15, 2022
WASHINGTON — Today, Texas sued the Biden administration over guidance the administration provided earlier this week on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. If a health care professional determines that a pregnant patient presenting at a hospital emergency department is experiencing an emergency medical condition, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment. This applies in all states, regardless of whether there is an abortion ban in effect.
Statement from Alexis McGill Johnson, president, Planned Parenthood Action Fund:
“Today, Attorney General Ken Paxton, on behalf of the State of Texas, sued to block pregnant patients from receiving life-saving care. The lawsuit will only create confusion, which will put people at risk of death from an ectopic pregnancy, sepsis, or other life-threatening conditions when federal law requires that they receive emergency medical assistance–like a lifesaving abortion. This action might seem ‘extreme,’ but it is right in line with the broader anti-abortion movement that wants to take full control of our bodies–no matter the cost. The cruelty is the point and the consequences will be devastating.”
Statement from Dyana Limon-Mercado, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Texas Votes:
"In a bid to make Texas the most hostile state to pregnant women, Attorney General Paxton has sued on Texas’ behalf to block patients in critical health situations from receiving a life-saving abortion. This latest lawsuit will hit people with the fewest means the hardest and paints a clear picture of where anti-abortion politicians’ priorities and ambitions lie. We will not stand for this."
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Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Action Fund engages in educational, advocacy, and limited electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.