For Immediate Release:
April 22, 2024
Contact:
Jocelyn Foye
[email protected]
PROVIDENCE – April 22 – Last week, The Womxn Project joined a number of national organizations in signing an amicus brief emphasizing the importance of providing emergency stabilizing care for pregnant patients. The amicus brief provides context for the Supreme Court when it hears Idaho V. United States on April 24th. That case will define whether state laws banning forms of reproductive health care supersede existing federal law, The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) that requires emergency care be rendered to those who need it.
EMTALA has been in place for decades. It ensures everyone has access to emergency care and to the emergency care that is deemed necessary to save the patient’s life. Idaho asserts that abortion cannot be part of that care.
“If Idaho is allowed to ignore EMTALA, a pregnant person will have impaired access to potentially life-saving care simply because they are pregnant. This can only decrease our already atrocious maternal health outcomes and most assuredly affect the poor and marginalized more acutely. A SCOTUS precedent to allow individual states to determine an individual’s emergency health care needs as a political, rather than medical, matter is exceedingly dangerous,” says Jocelyn Foye, Executive Director of The Womxn Project. “We signed this amicus brief because we refuse to accept pregnant people being treated as second class citizens. Abortion bans already undermine the health of pregnant people in many states. To allow that ban to supersede emergency health care decisions undermines the system of care emergency rooms provide.”
The brief says, in part:
“Accepting Idaho’s reading of EMTALA—which distorts the statutory text beyond reason and recognition—would deepen the United States’ maternal health crisis, particularly for Black, Indigenous, immigrant, rural, and low-income communities. It would decimate treatment options for patients experiencing pregnancy-related emergencies and accelerate the exodus of healthcare providers from areas that are already considered pregnancy-care deserts, making even routine pregnancy care harder to find. Amici urge the Court to reject Petitioners’ atextual reading of EMTALA and prevent the catastrophic consequences that would flow from it.”
About the Womxn Project
The Womxn Project (TWP) is a statewide organization dedicated to building a strong movement that harnesses the power of art, activism and advocacy. We believe that together we can dismantle systems of oppression and uplift the voices of people in our communities throughout Rhode Island in order to shift power and shape the policies that impact our lives and the lives of our neighbors. We commit to embodying the principles of reproductive justice, cultivating innovation and advancing real and lasting change. For more information, visit www.thewomxnproject.org.
