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Federal Inquiry Found Texas Hospital Violated Woman’s Right to an Emergency Abortion
The findings are a small victory, but a recent policy change casts doubt on whether Trump's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will investigate such violations in the future.
Photo Credit: Getty AbortionPolitics
In a somewhat head-scratching series of events last week, the Trump administration got rid of crucial Biden-era guidance reminding hospitals that they must provide patients with emergency abortion care, while also making it crystal clear why hospitals need this guidance in the first place.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported on a federal inquiry that found that a hospital in Texas violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) when it refused to provide emergency abortion care to Kylieigh Thurman, now 36, while she was suffering an ectopic pregnancy. The inquiry was reportedly completed in April, but this was the first time its findings were revealed.
Thurman filed a complaint against Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital in December (along with the Center for Reproductive Rights) after it twice denied her emergency abortion care in February 2023. Texas, which has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, threatens doctors with up to 99 years in prison.
Ectopic pregnancy, which is when a fertilized egg develops outside the uterine wall, is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester. The condition is incompatible with life and can cause life-threatening bleeding if not treated. Abortion is the only treatment.