Judge blocks enforcement of Biden abortion guidance in Texas

Source: Associated Press

Judge blocks enforcement of Biden abortion guidance in Texas

August 24, 2022

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked the federal government from enforcing a legal interpretation that would require hospitals in the state to provide abortion services if the life of the mother is at risk.

Texas sued Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Xavier Becerra last month, arguing that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a federal law commonly referred to as EMTALA, doesn’t require doctors to provide abortions if doing so would violate a state law.

In a ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix temporarily blocked the government from enforcing the guidance, finding that EMTALA “is silent as to abortion.”

“Since the statute is silent on the question, the Guidance cannot answer how doctors should weigh risks to both a mother and her unborn child,” the judge’s order said. “Nor can it, in doing so, create a conflict with state law where one does not exist. The Guidance was thus unauthorized.”

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-texas-xavier-becerra-4ccc7296f015270b0dc66c64e975689c