Abortion Coverage and Access

Shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, the Biden administration released guidance reminding hospitals of their obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to provide care, including abortion care, to pregnant patients experiencing medical emergencies. For nearly 40 years, EMTALA has been understood to protect a pregnant person’s right to emergency abortion care, just as it protected everyone else’s right to the emergency care they need. 

In the confusion following the overturning of Roe, the guidance issued by the Department of Health and Human Services emphasized the rights of pregnant people to get the care they need while experiencing emergencies and the rights of providers to provide that care. In addition to the guidance, the Biden administration sued the state of Idaho because its abortion ban criminalizes emergency abortion care in violation of EMTALA. After hearing the case, in June 2024 the Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower courts.

Current Status:

• On June 3, 2025, the Trump administration rescinded guidance issued by the Biden administration reaffirming hospitals’ obligations under EMTALA. While a clear indication of this administration’s intent to continue targeting abortion care, EMTALA still remains the law of the land regardless of guidance.

What happened previously:

• On June 27, 2024, the Supreme Court declined to issue a decision on the merits in the Moyle et al. v. United States and instead sent it back to the lower courts.

Medication abortion now makes up 63% of all abortions in the United States. Anti-abortion advocates continue to push for restricting access to mifepristone; one of two drugs used in the most common medication abortion regimen in the United States. Mifepristone has a long and demonstrated safety and efficacy record since the drug was first approved by the FDA in 2000.
On November 18, 2022, several anti-abortion groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over its approval of mifepristone. The case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al vs. US Food and Drug Administration et al argued that the FDA exceeded its authority in approving mifepristone over 20 years ago. After eventually making its way up to the Supreme Court, in June 2024 the Court dismissed the case citing the plaintiffs’ lack of standing.
 

Current Status:

• Mifepristone continues to remain widely available though there have been recent efforts to continue targeting access. The current FDA Commissioner under the Trump administration, Marty Markary, committed to reviewing mifepristone further reiterating junk science and false rhetoric about mife’s safety and efficacy.
   

What happened Previously:

• In May 2025, the Trump administration asked the Court to dismiss the case filed by Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri.
• In October 2024, Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri joined and moved forward in the case Idaho and Moyle et al. v. U.S. seeking to roll back access to mifepristone.
• On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in FDA et al v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al. citing that the Alliance along with other parties lack standing to sue. This decision preserved access to mifepristone however it did not foreclose the potential of future legal challenges to access to mifepristone.

Shield laws work to protect abortion providers, patients, and helpers from legal actions against them for providing telehealth abortion care to out of state residents. This also can include protection of patient medical information. Currently shield laws are on the books in 18 states and the District of Columbia:

Although a critical tool for supporting and protecting patients, providers and helpers, anti-abortion policymakers have also targeted shield laws and the providers that utilize them. For example, Texas and Louisiana filed suit against a New York abortion provider putting an already precarious abortion access landscape more in flux.

Even before the decision overturning Roe, policies such as the Hyde Amendment, increased barriers to accessing abortion care. The Hyde Amendment is language included in the annual Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS), appropriations bill which prohibits coverage of abortion except in limited circumstances. This means that people in programs such as- Medicaid; Medicare and CHIP; Indian Health Service; TRICARE; the VA; pregnant people in prisons or detention centers, including those detained for immigration purposes; or those in the peace corps- will not have their abortion care covered except in limited circumstances. For decades these coverage bans have put abortion out of reach for people who depend on them disproportionately impacting people with low-incomes and women of color. 

What Can You Do

Members of Congress are once again moving appropriations bills in the House and Senate that maintains the harmful Hyde Amendment. As we near the September 30th deadline, contact your Representatives and tell them reject the Hyde Amendment. 

Earlier this year, federal policymakers moved forward with and ultimatelty passed their budget reconciliation bill which included their harmful proposal to “defund Planned Parenthood" targeting providers and decimating access to sexual and reproductive health care such as birth control, STI testing and treatment, and cancer screenings. Read Power to Decide's statement here.

On September 11, 2025, an appeals court ruling allowed the defund provision to take effect, which would block over 1.1 million patients from using Medicaid at Planned Parenthood and pushing care out of reach. As the fight continues, stay tuned for updates and additional ways to take action.

• AbortionFinder.org: Always up-to-date with the latest laws, AbortionFinder allows you to select your state to get information about what to expect and to locate abortion support resources and assistance.
• Power to Decide Factsheet on Abortion Coverage and Access
• Power to Decide Statement on Moyle v. United States
• Power to Decide Statement on FDA v. AHM
• Center for Reproductive Rights-Interstate Shield Laws Resource
• All Above All- Factsheet: The Hyde Amendment