June 05, 2025 10:44 AM UTC

New Colorado Law Ensures Abortion Care Despite HHS Rollback

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• by: Heidi Beedle

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Originally posted at the Colorado Times Recorder

Yesterday the Trump administration made being pregnant in America more dangerous, but thanks to a new state law that anticipated this action, Coloradans who need emergency abortion care are still protected.

Ia press release the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced they are rescinding the 2022 guidance that reaffirmed hospitals’ obligation under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to provide abortion care to patients experiencing medical crises. Passed in 1986, EMTALA has been understood by medical providers and the federal government to require abortion care when that care is needed to stabilize pregnant patients in a medical crisis, regardless of ability to pay.

“The Trump administration cannot simply erase four decades of law protecting patients’ lives with the stroke of a pen,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, deputy director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project in a news release. “Regardless of where they live, pregnant patients have a right to emergency abortion care that will save their health or lives. By rescinding this guidance, the Trump administration has sent a clear signal that it is siding not with the majority, but with its anti-abortion allies — and that will come at the expense of women’s lives. The ACLU will use every lever we have to keep President Trump and his administration from endangering our health and lives.”

States with abortion bans — most notably Idaho and Texas — have challenged the law and argued in court that their state abortion bans override EMTALA. The Supreme Court effectively left EMTALA in legal limbo in Moyle vs United States, and the Trump Administration announced in March it is no longer pursuing the case against Idaho for refusing to provide abortion care in the emergency room.

“The Trump administration has deeply eroded federal protections for reproductive health care, and it’s our responsibility to protect life-saving emergency care for pregnant people in Colorado,” said Rep. Meg Froelich (D-Englewood) in a May news release. “Our law ensures that emergency providers have the clarity they need to do their job and save lives – just as they have done since 1986. Our legislation rules out all ambiguity so pregnant people can receive the life-saving emergency care they need, including an abortion.”

In Colorado, recently passed Senate Bill 130 guarantees emergency room care in Colorado, including abortion and miscarriage care, regardless of current uncertainty at the federal level. The legislation also includes enforcement mechanisms that ensure Colorado isn’t beholden to the Trump Administration when enforcing laws related to emergency medical service, including abortion care. Colorado is the first state in the nation to have independent enforcement of this federal law.

“As someone who lives in rural Colorado, it matters that we are able to get the same standard of emergency care as everyone else,” said Cobalt Political Director Kiera Hatton Sena in a May news release. “With the chaos in the courts, the federal government abandoning its commitment to enforce federal law, and nothing protecting pregnant people in the ER in Colorado law, Colorado had to take action to ensure patients here are protected, no matter where they live.”