After the U.S. Supreme Court this week upheld an order that Texas hospitals aren't required to provide emergency abortion care, a Dallas reproductive justice organization is warning the decision will be especially harmful to Black women.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a lower court’s order to stay in place blocking enforcement of the Biden administration's guidance that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) mandates emergency rooms provide abortions if a pregnant patient's life or health is at risk, even if they violate state bans.
In a statement, the Afiya Center said the decision is another challenge for marginalized women, particularly Black women, who are disproportionately affected by lack of health care access.
“No doubt, Black women will suffer unnecessary injuries, risk criminal prosecution, and worst of all preventable deaths due to this ruling” the Afiya Center said in the statement.
The Biden administration said that under EMTALA, emergency rooms are required to provide abortions in emergencies, despite state bans.
Texas law bans abortions except in cases when the life of the pregnant patient is at risk — but the law doesn’t specify when the exception might apply.
“The Texas medical board has refused to specify which conditions qualify for exceptions,” the Afiya Center said, “leaving health care providers to guess whether providing abortion care could put them at risk of criminal prosecution.”
D’Andra Willis, deputy director of the Afiya Center, highlighted the existing challenges Black women face in the medical system, where they don’t feel safe and often feel dismissed. She noted the maternal mortality rate for Black women is significantly higher compared to white women, and this ruling may heighten those disparities.
“Now you have doctors who don't feel safe, doctors who believe, and I want to say have been criminalized for just doing the very thing that they took the oath for,” Willis said.
Willis believes that this decision will lead to more challenges like an increase in domestic violence, teen pregnancies and mental health issues.
“When bans and bills and laws are put into place that impact people, Black people will be the ones who are always disenfranchised,” Willis said. “And marginalized people will be overly impacted and heavily criminalized by the decision that they make.”
Zara Amaechi is KERA’s Marjorie Welch Fitts Louis fellow covering race and social justice. Got a tip? Email Zara at zamaechi@kera.org. You can follow her on X @amaechizara.
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