PHOENIX – Attorney General Mayes today today joined a coalition of Attorneys General in a letter to the American Hospital Association reminding hospitals of their obligation to comply with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). The letter responds to the Trump Administration’s recent decision to revoke prior guidance that underscored the obligation of covered hospitals to provide emergency abortion care under EMTALA.
Since it was enacted in 1986, EMTALA has required Medicare-participating hospitals to provide access to abortion care when it is the treatment necessary to stabilize a pregnant patient who presents with an emergency medical condition. The letter, which is being issued on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, underscores that the Trump Administration’s rescission of prior guidance does not change hospitals’ obligation to comply with EMTALA’s requirement to provide emergency abortion care.
"Hospitals must provide emergency abortion care to women when they need it," said Attorney General Mayes, "As Attorney General, I will continue using every legal tool at my disposal to protect reproductive freedom, safeguard access to care, and ensure that no one is criminalized for seeking or providing abortion services in Arizona."
On May 29, 2025, the Trump Administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rescinded guidance on EMTALA that had been issued in 2022 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The 2022 guidance reminded covered hospitals that they were required under EMTALA to provide access to emergency abortion care.
The Attorneys General explain in their letter that the Trump Administration’s rescission of the 2022 guidance does not alter hospitals’ obligations under EMTALA. In today’s letter, the Attorneys General underscore that EMTALA requires hospitals to provide access to abortion care if it is the treatment necessary to stabilize pregnant patients with an emergency medical condition, regardless of whether the state in which they operate has passed laws limiting abortion access. Emergency medical conditions that require stabilizing abortion treatment can include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, traumatic placental abruption, preeclampsia, hemorrhaging, amniotic fluid embolism, and hypertension.
As the letter explains, the Trump Administration cannot change the law unilaterally, and EMTALA continues to remain in full force and effect throughout the country.
The letter also explains that continued compliance with EMTALA’s requirements is critical because of the devastating harms that result from denying abortion care to pregnant patients in emergency medical situations. The letter points out that the denial of this essential care increases the risk of death for pregnant patients and can cause irreparable harms, including hysterectomy, fertility loss, kidney failure, brain injury, and limb amputation.
Today’s letter reaffirms the coalition’s commitment to ensuring that hospitals subject to EMTALA comply with the law and their commitment to protecting pregnant patients across the country.
Attorney General Mayes joins the Attorneys General of New Jersey, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Hawaii, Illinois, Rhode Island, Nevada, Oregon, and Vermont in sending this letter.
A copy of the letter is available here.
