On Anniversary of Dobbs Decision, Raoul & State Attorneys General Stand Up
for Lifesaving Care
Chicago – On the three-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 22 attorneys general, sent a letter to the American Hospital Association reaffirming hospitals’ legal requirement under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) to provide emergency health care, including abortion, to patients. The letter responds to the Trump administration’s recent decision to revoke prior guidance that underscored the obligation of covered hospitals to provide emergency abortion care under EMTALA.
“No pregnant patient experiencing an emergency health condition should be denied care or be forced to travel long distances for life-saving treatment,” Raoul said. “EMTALA and Illinois law require hospitals to provide treatment, including emergency abortion care, to any person who comes to an emergency room in crisis. Refusal to provide emergency abortion care has caused unnecessary suffering and has tragically cost women’s lives and well-being. I will continue to stand up for the rights of patients to access all forms of reproductive health care, not only here in Illinois, but across the country.”
Since it was enacted in 1986, EMTALA has required Medicare-participating hospitals to provide access to abortion care when the treatment is necessary to stabilize a pregnant patient who presents with an emergency medical condition.
On May 29, the Trump administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rescinded guidance on EMTALA that had been issued in 2022 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade to remind covered hospitals that they were required under EMTALA to provide access to emergency abortion care.
As the letter from Raoul and the attorneys general explains, the Trump administration cannot change the law unilaterally, and EMTALA continues to remain in full force and effect throughout the country. The attorneys general underscore that EMTALA requires hospitals to provide access to abortion care if it is the treatment necessary to stabilize pregnant patients with an emergency medical condition, regardless of whether the state in which they operate has passed laws limiting abortion access. Emergency medical conditions that require stabilizing abortion treatment can include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, traumatic placental abruption, preeclampsia, hemorrhaging, amniotic fluid embolism and hypertension.
The letter explains that continued compliance with EMTALA’s requirements is critical because of the devastating harms that result from denying abortion care to pregnant patients in emergency medical situations. The letter points out that the denial of this essential care increases the risk of death for pregnant patients and can cause irreparable harms, including hysterectomy, fertility loss, kidney failure, brain injury and limb amputation.
The coalition’s letter also highlights the death of a young mother in Texas who was experiencing a miscarriage and died of an infection after being denied timely emergency abortion care. This and other, similar tragic cases illustrate the dangers to pregnant patients when hospitals fail to meet their EMTALA obligation to provide stabilizing care for emergency medical conditions.
The letter comes on the anniversary of the Supreme Court issuing Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade. Both before and after the ruling, Attorney General Raoul has remained a strong advocate for access to reproductive care, including abortion.
Raoul has often joined his fellow state attorneys general to oppose draconian abortion regulations in other states. He has also initiated or supported legislative proposals to preserve Illinois as a reproductive health care oasis in the Midwest, including 2024 legislation that codified access to emergency abortion care in state law.
Before the court’s ruling in Dobbs, Raoul’s office issued guidance to inform Illinois residents of their rights around reproductive care and sent a letter to law enforcement clarifying that abortion would not be criminalized in Illinois, regardless of what action was taken by the Supreme Court.
In July 2022, Raoul’s office issued a consumer alert offering guidance to help individuals seeking reproductive care protect their privacy while using apps and online platforms. Raoul also advocated for stronger federal protections for patients’ reproductive health information and called on Apple to take practical steps to protect consumers’ private reproductive health information.
In 2023, Raoul proactively filed a lawsuit to preserve access to the medication abortion drug mifepristone for patients in Illinois. In 2024, Raoul, as part of a coalition of 24 attorneys general, filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court to protect access to medication abortion nationwide. The court’s ruling ultimately preserved access to medication abortion.
Throughout his time in office, he has also defended Title X, the only federal grant program that funds family planning and counseling programs to help patients access contraception, as well as breast and cervical cancer screenings, screenings and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, and other related health services.
Most recently, Raoul has advocated for access to reproductive health services for veterans and their families and spoken up about the need to protect health care providers from risky in-person medical board certification requirements.
Joining Raoul in issuing today’s letter are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
