Gov. Inslee directs WA hospitals to provide emergency abortions

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issued a directive requiring all hospitals in the state to be able to provide emergency abortion services.

Inslee’s directive was issued Tuesday, and requires the State Department of Health to affirm that all hospitals be legally required to provide the emergency procedure.

The decision was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on an "extreme anti-choice" case — Moyle v. United States — which will determine if Idaho’s abortion law conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which requires any hospital receiving federal funds through Medicare to provide medical examinations and emergency care, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.

It also comes near the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.

"Ideological politicians are relentlessly interfering with the most private and crucial health care decisions a doctor and their patient will ever make, and now they’re doing so even when the life of a mother hangs in the balance," Inslee said. "Fortunately, we’ve taken numerous steps in Washington to make sure patients in Washington are not subject to these horrors. Hospitals and clinics in Washington have become a haven for patients seeking the abortion care they can no longer access in other states. We will meet every challenge to women’s right of choice with an unwavering affirmation that Washington is and will remain a pro-choice state."

Washington already has several emergency health care laws, but Inslee’s directive is aimed at providing policy guidance to state hospitals, "[clarifying] hospitals’ legal obligations" to give that care. Those laws include:

Chapter 70.400 RCW: Protects clinicians providing care for emergency pregnancy complications
Chapter 9.02 RCW: Protects the right of pregnant people to make their own reproductive decisions
RCW 70.170.060: Protects access to hospital emergency care regardless of ability to pay
Chapter 70.03 RCW: Protects clinicians providing accurate, comprehensive information to patients

"While pregnancy is often a wonderful experience for people, it can also have great risks," said Dr. Sarah Prager with UW Medicine. "Someone is more likely to die from being pregnant than from skydiving. Abortion is always safer than continuing a pregnancy, and never more so than when there is an emergent concern about the life or health of a pregnant person. It is critical that all clinicians are able to treat pregnant patients with life-saving care, including abortion care, when that is required."

The Governor’s Office says that since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, the state has taken major steps to protect the right to abortions and gender-affirming care, particularly as it concerns people traveling to Washington from out-of-state to get reproductive care.