Shanae Smith-Cunningham arrived at Memorial Regional Hospital on Dec. 21, 2022 — five days after her water broke, only halfway through her pregnancy. Despite her pleas for treatment and the risks to her health, staff at the Hollywood, Fla., hospital turned her away amid the state’s new abortion restrictions.
The decision to send Smith-Cunningham home put her life in peril, health officials later determined
I guess I should also clarify that the question includes: does EMTALA mandate an abortion in that circumstance? It requires stabilizing the patient.
Eh… they’re more like guidelines. I would defer to the doctor on the ground rather than try to legislate.
Yeah but in this case the doctors on the ground are at legal risk for performing an abortion and therefore don’t risk it even if they think it’s necessary, but a federal mandate will protect them. That’s actually kind of the point here.