Sherrill, Sykes Resolution Reaffirms Access to Emergency Abortion Care

WASHINGTON — Reps. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., and Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, introduced a resolution to reaffirm the right to access to emergency abortion care, hoping to provide clarity and certainty for women in dire medical emergencies.

At the same time, the early morning press conference they held to announce the resolution gave them ample opportunity to lambast former President Donald Trump for his role in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which promises to be a decisive issue in the 2024 race for the White House.

On Tuesday night, during his televised debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump responded to criticism from Harris that his “hand-picked” Supreme Court has failed to protect women’s health care, saying, “I did a great service in [overturning Roe]. It took courage to do it. And the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it.

“Look, this is an issue that’s torn our country apart for 52 years,” Trump said. “Every legal scholar, every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative, they all wanted this issue to be brought back to the states where the people could vote. And that’s what happened.”

But Sherrill, Sykes, House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., reproductive rights advocates and health care professionals gathered outside the Capitol Thursday offered a darker view of the sharply divided high court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Since Dobbs, a ruling in which three Trump-appointed justices sided with the majority, nearly two dozen states have banned or limited access to abortion care, creating confusion among doctors and other health care providers over what care they can legally provide — even when their pregnant patient’s life is in danger.

Despite the fact the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act protects access to emergency abortion care in every state, speaker after speaker said physicians continue to fear they may lose their medical license, be sued, or even charged with a felony if they provide emergency abortion care.

Dr. Amy Burkett, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Cleveland, Ohio, said the setting in which she and her colleagues work is “incredibly challenging” because they often see “some of the most serious and urgent obstetric emergencies.”

“I help my patients through some of the scariest moments of their lives, and my team and I are able to do this because of our advanced training and expertise,” Burkett continued.

“Unfortunately, the Dobbs decision dramatically affected our ability to treat the patients in front of us,” she said. “During the initial six weeks post-Dobbs, Ohio was under a six-week abortion ban, and during that time, I actually carried a defense attorney’s business card with me, because I was fearful I would have to provide emergency care that would be considered a felony in Ohio.

“Thankfully, I was never personally in that position, but many of my colleagues around the country were and continue to be placed in that position,” she added.

Burkett said had it come down to it, she would have chosen to provide the evidence-based health care that her patients needed “because I took an oath to care for the women in my community.” 

“Abortion is health care. Abortion is sometimes lifesaving health care. Politics has no place in my exam rooms,” she said.

Sykes, who represents Ohio’s 13th Congressional District, recalled the story of Brittany Watts, a fellow Ohioan, who miscarried at home alone after being told by doctors her fetus was nonviable.

Despite begging to be induced, doctors at the hospital where she was being treated refused to do the procedure.

After she miscarried she returned to the hospital for treatment. Instead, at the direction of the hospital’s risk management team, the nurse caring for her called the police.

Watts was still in the hospital when police searched her home. After they found the fetus lodged in the traps of a toilet, they charged the 34-year-old with abuse of a corpse — a felony charge that was ultimately dismissed after an Ohio grand jury declined to indict her.

“Brittany’s story is unfortunately not the only one,” Sykes said. “There are so many more women who have miscarried in public bathrooms, gone into shock or even needed a blood transfusion simply because they were unable to get the care they needed when they needed it most.

“But the program does not stop at patients. Health care providers who take a medical oath or simply do no harm and are working every single day to save people’s lives, are challenged … have to live in fear of losing their jobs … and even their freedom and be sent to jail.”

Sykes, Sherrill and Clark each spoke about how the Supreme Court had a chance to clarify the situation this past term with the case Moyle v. United States, a case in which the court was asked to determine whether Idaho’s abortion ban conflicted with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.

To lawmakers’ dismay, the court ultimately decided its review of the case was improvidently granted, and it returned the case to the lower courts without a ruling on the merits.

“The Supreme Court’s decision only increased chaos and uncertainty, leaving more women in danger and the door wide open for future attacks on reproductive health care,” Sykes said. 

“That’s why we’re introducing this resolution, to state unequivocally and on the record that the EMTALA provides certainty and clarity about the care women across the country can receive when they are experiencing their most dire and concerning medical emergencies,” she said.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act was passed in 1986 to right the wrong of so-called “patient dumping.”

It requires hospital emergency departments that accept payments from Medicare to provide an appropriate medical screening examination for anyone seeking treatment for a medical condition regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay.

By law, participating hospitals may not transfer or discharge patients needing emergency treatment except with the informed consent or stabilization of the patient or when the patient’s condition requires transfer to a hospital better equipped to administer the treatment

“Women in America should not be on their deathbed to receive an abortion,” Sherrill said.

As for Moyle, Sherrill noted that in his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito said the court had simply lost the will to decide the easy but emotional and highly politicized question the case presented.

“Apparently, Justice Alito thinks women, including his fellow justices on the Supreme Court, are just too emotional about abortion,” she said.

Sherrill also referenced an analysis by The Associated Press that found more than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms had been turned away or negligently treated since the Dobbs decision.

“It’s an outrage,” she said. “Lives are at risk, and despite clear federal law and additional guidance from the Biden administration, states across the country are refusing to treat pregnant women in emergencies and even threatening doctors with prison time for performing an emergency abortion.”

Sherill recalled that during the oral arguments for Moyle, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor posed a number of hypotheticals about what would happen to women if they were denied care for conditions EMTALA clearly covers. 

“When asked if the same scenarios were covered under the Idaho law, the state’s attorney couldn’t give a straight answer. In fact, Justice Barrett said she was, quote, ‘shocked’ by the lack of clarity and his answers,” Sherill said. “That’s why we’re introducing this resolution, to make abundantly clear that federal law EMTALA guarantees a woman’s right to emergency care, including abortion.”

Of the three lawmakers, it was Clark who was the most stridently political.

“There’s only one reason that we have to be here today, and that is because Donald Trump and the extremists in the House who have pledged their loyalty to him, have forgotten about the health and well-being of women in the country,” she said. 

“They are the reason that Roe was overturned. They’re the reason women are being denied basic health care in more than 20 states. They’re the reason Idaho sued to overturn the federal right to emergency abortion care,” she said. 

“We’re here because MAGA extremism has put women’s lives at risk across America. We’re here because emergency health care is a legal right and a moral obligation. This is a straightforward resolution for Democrats. It’s common sense. It’s about freedom. We believe in the freedom to control your own body. We believe in the freedom to get the health care you need to stay alive. We believe in keeping the courtroom out of the emergency room,” Clark added.

Regina Davis Moss, president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, said the current situation is particularly grave for women of color.

“Pregnant people, especially black women, continue to live in fear of not being able to receive the essential medical care they may need when they need it,” she said, adding, “Any effort to deny critical care to a pregnant person during a medical emergency is a direct attack on my community. 

“At a time when Black women are more than three times more likely to die due to pregnancy- related causes, and with nearly 55% of all Black women of reproductive age living in states with abortion restrictions, we cannot limit access to the full spectrum of reproductive care to Black other marginalized communities,” Moss said. 

“The Dobbs decision has exacerbated poor pregnancy outcomes and the fear of criminalization among [women of color],” she continued.

A recent survey by In Our Own Voice found that four in 10 women of reproductive age actively worry about their risk of arrest or even death related to their pregnancy.

“Baseless attacks on our bodily autonomy only exacerbate those fears, while courts cautiously and callously discuss whether people experiencing emergencies during their pregnancy should receive care,” Moss said. 

So far, the reproductive rights resolution has 114 cosponsors in the House. For Burkett, its passage can’t come soon enough.

During her remarks, she recalled having to tell her emergency room patients that she could not give them local referrals for pregnancy terminations.

“I had to refer them out of state. And when I told these patients they would have to go out of state for care, all of them cried, as they had no idea how they would afford to travel. Most of them had no idea they were even pregnant prior to coming to the emergency room for care,” Burkett said.

“This is not how health care is supposed to work,” she said. “We’ve already seen that these abortion bans are leading to terrible outcomes for patients, especially in emergency care situations. We know this is going to lead to increased maternal morbidity and mortality, particularly for vulnerable patient populations. 

“We need solutions to ensure that every person has access to evidence-based, lifesaving abortion care without political and legislative interference,” Burkett said.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue