Texas sues over White House guidance on providing emergency abortions

Texas sued the federal government on Thursday over new guidance from the Biden administration directing hospitals to provide emergency abortions regardless of state bans on the procedure.

HHS did not respond to requests for comment.

The guidance came after Joe Biden, a Democrat, signed an executive order on Friday seeking to ease access to services to terminate pregnancies after the supreme court on 24 June overturned the Roe v Wade ruling recognizing a nationwide right of women to obtain abortions.

HHS said the guidance from its US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services agency did not constitute new policy but merely reminded doctors of their obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act.

But in the lawsuit filed in Lubbock, the Republican-led state of Texas argued that federal law has never authorized the federal government to compel doctors and hospitals to perform abortions and that the guidance was unlawful.