Dozens of pregnant women, some bleeding or in labor, being turned away from ERs despite federal law
Associated PressAUG 2024
Trump Administration Rescinds Emergency Abortion Guidance
Above: Mehmet Oz, administrator of the CMS, and President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on May 12, 2025. Image copyright: Chris Kleponis/Contributor/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-Trump narrative
This decision by CMS corrects Biden's radical overreach that forced hospitals and pro-life doctors to perform abortions against their conscience. The guidance twisted a law designed to protect mothers and babies into an abortion mandate, creating confusion where none existed. Every state already has a "life of the mother" exception, making this federal interference unnecessary and potentially harmful.
Anti-Trump narrative
The Trump administration's rollback of the 2022 EMTALA guidance strips away vital protections for pregnant people facing life-threatening emergencies. By forcing doctors to choose between providing lifesaving care and risking criminal prosecution under restrictive abortion laws, it abandons patients in crisis, empowers extremists, and deepens the ongoing assault on reproductive freedom — putting lives at grave risk.