Trump Administration Revokes Guidance Requiring Hospitals To Provide Emergency Abortions
Associated Press, June 3, 2025
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would revoke guidance to the nation’s hospitals that directed them to provide emergency abortions for women when they are necessary to stabilize their medical condition. That guidance was issued to hospitals in 2022, weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upended national abortion rights in the U.S. It was an effort by the Biden administration to preserve abortion access for extreme cases in which women were experiencing medical emergencies and needed an abortion to prevent organ loss or severe hemorrhaging, among other serious complications. The Biden administration had argued that hospitals — including ones in states with near-total bans — needed to provide emergency abortions under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. That law requires emergency rooms that receive Medicare dollars to provide an exam and stabilizing treatment for all patients. Nearly all emergency rooms in the U.S. rely on Medicare funds. The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would no longer enforce that policy.
Texas Hospital That Discharged Woman With Doomed Pregnancy Broke the Law, Inquiry Finds
NBC News, June 4, 2025
A Texas hospital that repeatedly sent a woman who was bleeding and in pain home without ending her nonviable, life-threatening pregnancy violated the law, according to a newly released federal investigation. The government’s findings, which have not been previously reported, were a small victory for 36-year-old Kyleigh Thurman, who ultimately lost part of her reproductive system after being discharged after receiving no help from her hometown emergency room for her dangerous ectopic pregnancy. But a new policy the Trump administration announced Tuesday has thrown into doubt the federal government’s stance on hospitals’ denying women emergency abortions, even when they are at risk for serious infection, organ loss or severe hemorrhaging. Thurman had hoped the federal government’s investigation, which was concluded last year and issued a report in April, would send a clear message that ectopic pregnancies must be treated by hospitals in Texas, which has one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans. But CMS’ announcement on Tuesday raises questions about whether such investigations will continue if hospitals do not provide abortions for women in medical emergencies. The agency said it will still enforce the law, “including for identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy.” Thurman worries pregnant patients with serious complications still won’t be able to get the help they may need in Texas emergency rooms.
At Least 20 Planned Parenthood Clinics Shutter Amid Political Turbulence
The Guardian, June 2, 2025
At least 20 Planned Parenthood clinics across seven states have shuttered since the start of 2025 or have announced plans to close soon – closures that come amid immense financial and political turbulence for the reproductive health giant as the United States continues to grapple with the fallout from the end of Roe v Wade. The Planned Parenthood network, which operates nearly 600 clinics through a web of independent regional affiliates and is overseen by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is facing a number of threats from the Trump administration. A Guardian analysis has found that Planned Parenthood closures have occurred or are in the works across six affiliates that maintain clinics in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Utah and Vermont. The squeeze the organization is navigating may be about to tighten. Republicans at the national level are ramping up their campaign to “defund” Planned Parenthood by kicking it out of Medicaid, the government insurance program for low-income people. Of the 2.4 million people treated at Planned Parenthood nationwide each year, nearly half rely on Medicaid.
Access to Abortion Pill Mifepristone Could Be Threatened, Again
Forbes, June 3, 2025
The abortion pill mifepristone is in the crosshairs of politics again, as plaintiffs in several high-profile court cases together with Republican lawmakers push for restrictions. More importantly perhaps, the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the regulation and labeling of mifepristone, a drug with a well-established safety and effectiveness record. In an unusual move, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a statement last month to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee directing the FDA to “do a complete review” of its regulations on mifepristone, a medication used in conjunction with misoprostol in two-thirds of abortions in the United States – which has been used by more than 8 million people since its approval more than two decades ago. The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000 for medication abortion. It can be safely administered at home when prescribed by a provider, and the FDA has allowed people to take the medication outside of a clinic setting since 2021. That same year, the FDA further eased several conditions with respect to the prescribing and sale of mifepristone. Specifically, the regulatory authority allowed for prescriptions to be issued through telemedicine visits in for shipments of the product to be sent by mail, as MedPage Today reported. But it appears that besides wanting to subject mifepristone to a new FDA review, Kennedy also wishes to reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement, which would mean women must go to a clinic to obtain mifepristone.
A Texas Cop Searched License Plate Cameras Nationwide for a Women Who Got an Abortion
404 Media, May 29, 2025
Earlier this month, authorities in Texas preformed a nationwide search of more than 83,000 automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras while looking for a women who they said had a self-administered, including cameras in states where abortion is legal such as Washington and Illinois, according to multiple datasets obtained by 404 Media. Ashley Emery, senior policy analyst in reproductive health and rights at the National Partnership for Women & Families, told 404 Media, “The risks of this intrusive government monitoring cannot be overstated: law enforcement could deploy this surveillance technology to target and try to build cases against pregnant people who travel for abortion care and those who help them. This incident is undeniably a harbinger of more AI-enabled reproductive surveillance and investigations to come. Especially for women of color who are already over-surveilled and over-policed, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Medicaid gives people access to essential health care and supports when they need it most, but enormous Republican-proposed cuts would jeopardize the health of over 70 million people, including children, pregnant people, older adults, people with disabilities and people with low incomes.
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Note: The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women’s health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families.
