It’s hard to imagine a more discouraging start to the new year for pregnant Americans and those who can/will become pregnant, as well as those who love them, than Tuesday’s ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The court ruled “that federal emergency room protections do not include abortions — even if an abortion is determined to be the medical care necessary to stabilize the patient.” “In other words,” explained Law Dork, “according to the Fifth Circuit, a provider does not have to stabilize the patient if the state outlaws stabilizing the patient.”
The ruling does not only apply to the State of Texas. It also applies to all members, nationwide, belonging to the two anti-abortion medical associations who joined Texas in the suit: the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations. They’re so pro-life they’ll stand there and watch you die.
The 5th Circuit’s ruling even goes so far as to declare that the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), which was passed in 1986 to ensure that patients in emergencies receive treatment, “does not provide an unqualified right for the pregnant mother to abort her child.” Stephen I. Vladeck, the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the University of Texas School of Law and a nationally recognized expert on the federal courts and constitutional law, expounded upon the significance of the 5th Circuit’s ruling. He wrote, “imagine a state abortion ban with no medical exception. Under the Fifth Circuit’s analysis, EMTALA arguably still would not require (or even allow) a doctor to perform an abortion that is necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman” (emphasis his).
In other words, pregnant Americans have no right to life. You lost your right to life-saving medical care as soon as your pee stick turned positive. “Pro-life” my ass.
Every single American citizen who goes to an emergency room has a right to emergency medical care under federal law - except the pregnant ones. They don’t count. They aren’t full citizens, they’re sub-citizens.
The utter disregard for the lives of pregnant Americans evident in this case is nothing less than depraved indifference. Anti-abortion judges, states, and groups do not care if you are permanently harmed. They do not care if you die. They won’t stop until their depraved indifference is codified in law, through the courts if necessary. And as you languish in an emergency room, losing more and more blood, they’ll celebrate and pat themselves on the back for being oh so “pro-life.”
This is the “culture of life” they want.
This is nothing short of a human rights violation. Pure and simple. If it takes going to an International Court to be overturned then so be it. Why the hell would anyone want to get pregnant in TX, AL, TN, OK or any other red state in the South just so they can end your life? Unless this is resolved quickly it’s going to look like another civil war only the southern states did it to themselves this time. The political landscape will most likely have to change and trend towards purple to see any change. TX is a hell hole state and with their current political leadership they’ll have a hell of a time recruiting raw talent as well as seasoned talent. And it will probably be the driving force that facilitates change everywhere extremism and human rights violations exists.