Pro-Lifers Call Out Biden Admin for Trying to ‘Invent’ National Abortion Mandate

As the U.S. Supreme Court waded through arguments Wednesday to determine whether federal law requires pro-life states to conduct abortions on women in emergencies, pro-life advocates are calling out the Biden administration for “inventing a federal mandate by manipulating” a decades-old healthcare law.

As CBN News reported, the Department of Justice sued Idaho for its law that only allows for abortion to save the life of the mother.

The Biden administration claims the law violates a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

EMTALA was passed nearly forty years ago by Congress to prevent “patient dumping,” or the practice by private hospitals at the time that would send emergency room patients who couldn’t afford treatment to other hospitals that accepted poor patients. The law requires hospitals to stabilize E.R. patients before transferring them to other hospitals. 

“Idaho is standing up to prevent the Biden administration from inventing a federal abortion mandate by manipulating EMTALA,” Alliance Defending Freedom, a non-profit legal group, wrote on X. 

While the high court seemed split after hearing arguments Wednesday, pro-life advocates see the case as another important step in the process of ensuring the right to life for the most vulnerable and called out President Biden for attempting to rewrite the law. 

***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you receive the latest updates from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

“The Biden administration’s attack on Idaho’s Defense of Life law is more of a PR stunt to spread abortion lobby misinformation than it is a valid legal strategy to take down states’ pro-life laws,” commented SBA Pro-Life America’s State Public Affairs Director Kelsey Pritchard. 

“The Biden admin can’t override Idaho’s law & force ER doctors to perform abortions,” said Kristen Waggoner, president of the ADF. “There is no conflict between Idaho’s Defense of Life Act and EMTALA. Both laws seek to PROTECT the lives of women and their unborn children.”

Katie Glenn Daniel with the SBA Pro-life America wrote, “Joe Biden cannot unilaterally rewrite a law that applies to “a pregnant woman and her unborn child” and say it only applies to born persons.”

Other pro-life advocates pointed out that providing healthcare should never be an avenue for murder. 

“Medicine heals. Abortion kills. Abortion is not emergency medicine, and federal law does not require abortion in situations of a medical emergency,” said Live Action President, Lila Rose, in a statement. “This case is not about ensuring mothers receive emergency medical care; it is about destroying Idaho’s laws protecting its youngest children from the violence and death of abortion.”

Former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson, now an advocate for the unborn, echoed those sentiments. 

“Healthcare never involves killing a human. That’s murder. That’s a crime. That is the opposite of healthcare,” she wrote on X. 
 

Healthcare never involves killing a human. That’s murder. That’s a crime. That is the opposite of healthcare.

Abortion isn’t healthcare, it’s murder.

— Dr. Abby Johnson (@AbbyJohnson) April 24, 2024

After the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, 14 states have outlawed abortion with some exceptions and 22 states have tightened restrictions.

And since polls show broader abortion bans are unpopular, Democrats intend to put abortion measures on the ballot in as many states as possible. 

Both sides insist now is not the time to retreat or compromise. 

“Momentum is absolutely on our side,” Bethany Janzen with Pro-Life Global told CBN News. “As I said, the Dobbs decision allowed the states to decide on the issue.”

The Supreme Court will announce its decision in the Idaho case in June, six months before the presidential election.