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. 2024 Jan;25(1):79-85.
doi: 10.5811/westjem.61457.

Pregnancy Complications After Dobbs: The Role of EMTALA

Kimberly Chernoby  1 , Brian Acunto  2
Affiliations

Pregnancy Complications After Dobbs: The Role of EMTALA

Kimberly Chernoby et al. West J Emerg Med. 2024 Jan.

Abstract

In June 2023, the Supreme Court declared that there was no longer a right to abortion under the federal constitution. This decision has allowed states to promulgate different restrictions on abortion, many of which implicate the practice of emergency medicine. An abortion is defined as a "medical intervention provided to individuals who need to end the medical condition of pregnancy" and includes care such as termination of an ectopic pregnancy and induction of labor for previable preterm premature rupture of membranes-interventions that emergency physicians either perform or rely on the assistance of consultants to perform. State bans on abortion must be evaluated against duties under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a federal law that preempts state law. In this paper we examine the conflict between state and federal law as it applies to emergency abortion care and describe how emergency physicians can continue caring for patients.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. No author has professional or financial relationships with any companies that are relevant to this study. There are no conflicts of interest or sources of funding to declare.

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