Government website reproductiverights.gov appeared to be offline this evening. The site, launched in 2022 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of a public awareness campaign, contained information on access to abortion and reproductive health care and a Know-Your-Rights patient fact sheet. We have copied its original contents below.
ORIGINAL TEXT:
Update on Medication Abortion
On June 13, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision holding that the plaintiffs in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine lacked standing to challenge FDA’s actions. Mifepristone—which FDA approved as safe and effective more than 20 years ago—remains available under the conditions of use approved by FDA.
Know Your Rights: Reproductive Health Care
Reproductive health care, including access to birth control and safe and legal abortion care, is an essential part of your health and well-being. While Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion remains legal in many states, and other reproductive health care services remain protected by law. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is committed to providing you with accurate and up-to-date information about access to and coverage of reproductive health care and resources. Our goal is to make sure you have appropriate information and support.
Your Reproductive Rights
Below you will find information on your right to access reproductive health care, what your health insurance is required to cover, and where to go if you need health insurance.
Whether you get coverage through your employer, Medicaid, HealthCare.gov, or elsewhere in the private insurance market, most plans cover family planning counseling, birth control, and other preventive services at no additional cost to you. Federal law allows federally-funded health coverage (like Medicaid) to cover abortion in some situations, and some private health insurance plans also cover abortion care.
Your Right to Emergency Care
In light of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it's more important than ever that you know your rights on receiving emergency medical care.
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires Medicare-participating hospital emergency departments to offer any person who requests it an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency department.
If the hospital determines that you have an emergency medical condition, federal law requires the hospital to offer you treatment until your emergency medical condition is stabilized, or an appropriate transfer to another hospital if you need it.
An emergency medical condition includes any medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms and that, in the absence of immediate medical attention, could reasonably be expected to place the person’s health in serious jeopardy. Emergency medical conditions involving pregnant patients may include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, complications of a pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features. In some instances, the treatment reasonably necessary to stabilize a pregnant woman’s emergency medical condition may be an abortion.
These federal rights preempt any directly conflicting state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures. [1]
To learn more click here.
[1] Please note: pursuant to the injunction in Texas v. Becerra, No. 5:22-CV-185-H (N.D. Tex.), HHS may not enforce the following interpretations contained in the July 11, 2022, CMS guidance (and the corresponding letter sent the same day by HHS Secretary Becerra): (1) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation that Texas abortion laws are preempted by EMTALA; and (2) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation of EMTALA — both as to when an abortion is required and EMTALA’s effect on state laws governing abortion — within the State of Texas or against the members of the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA).
Civil Rights Complaints
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in health programs receiving federal financial assistance. If you believe that your or another person’s civil rights or health information privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with HHS here.
Patient Privacy
Federal law prohibits health care providers, health insurance plans, and other entities subject to the HIPAA Privacy Rule from using or sharing your health information to investigate or impose liability on yourself or any person for the mere act of seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating lawful reproductive health care [2]. To learn more click here.
Understand your rights to protect your private medical information under federal law. If you think your privacy has been violated, click here to learn how to file a complaint.
Guidance on Protecting the Privacy and Security of Your Health Information When Using Your Personal Cell Phone or Tablet may be found here.
Guidance on the HIPAA Privacy Rule and Disclosures of Information Relating to Reproductive Health Care may be found here.
Guidance on the Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates may be found here.
Department of Justice Resources
The U.S. Department of Justice is also working to protect access to reproductive health services under federal law. Visit the Justice Department's Reproductive Rights Task Force website for more information.
Update on Emergency Medical Care
On June 27, the Supreme Court issued its order in Moyle v. United States, reinstating the protections of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) for pregnant women experiencing emergency medical conditions in Idaho. On July 2, the Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter reminding hospitals and provider associations that it is a hospital’s legal duty to offer necessary stabilizing medical treatment, including abortion care (or transfer, if appropriate), to all patients in Medicare-participating hospitals who are found to have an emergency medical condition.1
In light of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it's more important than ever that you know your rights on receiving emergency medical care.
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires Medicare-participating hospital emergency departments to offer any person who requests it an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency department.
If the hospital determines that you have an emergency medical condition, federal law requires the hospital to offer you treatment until your emergency medical condition is stabilized, or an appropriate transfer to another hospital if you need it.
An emergency medical condition includes any medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms and that, in the absence of immediate medical attention, could reasonably be expected to place the person’s health in serious jeopardy. Emergency medical conditions involving pregnant patients may include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, complications of a pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features. In some instances, the treatment reasonably necessary to stabilize a pregnant woman’s emergency medical condition may be an abortion.
These federal rights preempt any directly conflicting state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures. [1]
[1] Please note: pursuant to the injunction in Texas v. Becerra, No. 5:22-CV-185-H (N.D. Tex.), HHS may not enforce the following interpretations contained in the July 11, 2022, CMS guidance (and the corresponding letter sent the same day by HHS Secretary Becerra): (1) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation that Texas abortion laws are preempted by EMTALA; and (2) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation of EMTALA — both as to when an abortion is required and EMTALA’s effect on state laws governing abortion — within the State of Texas or against the members of the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA).
If you are a health care provider:
For frontline health care providers, EMTALA requires a hospital to provide stabilizing medical treatment to any pregnant patients presenting to the hospital with an emergency medical condition, regardless of any directly conflicting restrictions in the state where you practice.
This means that physicians and other qualified medical personnel are required by federal law to offer stabilizing medical treatment (or an appropriate transfer) to a patient who presents to the emergency department and is found to have an emergency medical condition. This requirement preempts any directly conflicting state law or mandate that might otherwise prohibit such treatment, such as state prohibitions or restrictions on abortions.
Stabilizing treatment could include medical and/or surgical interventions (such as abortion, removal of one or both fallopian tubes, anti-hypertensive therapy, or methotrexate therapy), irrespective of any directly conflicting state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures.
Health care professionals and institutions with religious or conscience objections to providing abortions do not have to do so. To learn more click here.
If you are a patient:
If you present to the emergency department, you must be offered an appropriate medical screening examination to determine if you have an emergency medical condition. If you do, your health care providers in the emergency department are not permitted to wait until your emergency medical condition deteriorates before they provide stabilizing treatment.
The enforcement of EMTALA is a complaint driven process. If you or someone you know did not receive the emergency stabilizing medical care to which they were entitled, you can file an EMTALA complaint either by contacting your state’s survey agency or by using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services webform.
To contact your state's survey agency, use the tool below.
To file a complaint with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services click here.