Pregnant People Deserve Safe Care; Doctors Deserve to Provide It

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that protects the right to emergency healthcare, including abortion. There has been, post-Dobbs, a clash between these federal protections and states with abortion bans. Amani Echols, Senior Policy Analyst for Maternal Health at the National Partnership for Women and Families and Ashley Kurzweil, Senior Policy Analyst for Reproductive Health and Rights at the National Partnership for Women and Families, sit down to talk with us about this unleashing of chaos and confusion around whether and when emergency abortion care is permitted. In many states, patient health must deteriorate to an extremely risky state before qualifying for the “health exceptions” to abortion bans that are in place. In addition, hospital closures are occurring around the country after Trump’s recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), and for those who have emergencies in rural communities, that is extremely dangerous. For women of color who often experience dismissal or de-prioritization in medical settings, the pain, stress, and complications are often exacerbated. Abortion restrictions will no doubt worsen the maternal health crisis in the United States, which has the highest rate of maternal deaths of any other high-income nation. Black and Indigenous women are more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts and are even more likely to experience morbidity or severe maternal morbidity related to their pregnancy.For more information, check out When Science Finds a Way: https://wellcome.org/insights/podcastSupport the showFollow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfbFacebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.socialBuy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us: [email protected] and Review on Apple PodcastThanks for listening & keep fighting back!