Governor issues abortion mandate to hospitals
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy signed an executive order Monday requiring hospitals to perform emergency abortions.
The mandate came in relation to Idaho’s abortion ban, which makes abortion a felony. Anyone who attempts to perform abortions other than to save the mother’s life may be sentenced to between two and four years in prison.
Idaho’s ban is currently being challenged as the US Supreme Court has sent the case back to the lower courts for further litigation to determine whether abortions are considered emergency medical care under the Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). If they are, doctors will be obligated to perform any abortion that is deemed an “emergency,” even if the patient cannot pay.
Governor misleads voters
In anticipation and defiance of the Supreme Court’s decision, Healy ordered Massachusetts hospitals to perform emergency abortions. In a press release on Monday, Healy misleadingly suggested that the Supreme Court ruling would, “prevent pregnant women from receiving emergency, life-saving treatment.” The Supreme Court did not do so, would it have even if the Court had sided with the State of Idaho.
All states allow doctors to perform emergency abortions where the mother’s life is threatened and no physician has faced criminal prosecution for performing such abortions.
“With continued attacks on women’s health and freedom across the country, and the Supreme Court poised to rule any day now in a case that could prevent pregnant women from receiving emergency, life-saving treatment, we must continue to act,” Healey said in a press release. “That’s why I’m signing an Executive Order today affirming that Massachusetts patients will continue to receive emergency abortion care at our hospitals regardless of the Supreme Court’s ruling.”
Healy emphasized that she was issuing the executive order two years after “the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.”
Massachusetts currently allows abortion for any reason up to 24 weeks, and after 24 weeks for certain medical reasons.
AAMC: Doctors too scared to save mother’s life
Emergency abortion as a “life-saving measure” is seen as a Trojan horse used by feticide advocates to open the gates for elective abortions. Even the far-Left American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) has been forced to admit that all states allow abortion as a life-saving measure. The AAMC has therefore tried to claim that if elective abortion is not allowed, doctors will get scared and refuse to perform abortions even to save the “pregnant person’s” life.
“Even though every state has an exception that allows for an abortion needed to save the life of the pregnant person, some physicians report that the political rhetoric around the issue has caused a chilling effect, scaring doctors away from providing needed emergency care,” the AAMC said.
To date, no physician has been criminally prosecuted in any state for providing an abortion that was due to a medical emergency,” the organization added. “Still, some doctors say that the exceptions to abortion bans are not clear enough to dissuade their fears of repercussions should they perform an abortion.”
