Washington Governor Issues Directive Protecting Emergency Abortion Services

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has passed a directive requiring the Washington State Department of Health to confirm that all hospitals have a legal obligation to perform emergency abortions.

“Ideological politicians are mercilessly interfering in the most private and crucial health care decisions a doctor and patient will ever make, and now they are doing so even when a mother’s life hangs in the balance,” Inslee said.

This directive comes as the nation approaches the second anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Roe v. Wade established that the United States Constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to rule this month in Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States, which allow politicians to jail emergency room doctors for providing emergency abortions.

“Thankfully, we have taken numerous steps in Washington to ensure that patients in Washington do not experience these horrors. Washington hospitals and clinics have become a haven for patients seeking abortion care they no longer have access to in other states. We will meet every challenge to women’s right to choose by unwaveringly affirming that Washington is and will remain a pro-choice state,” Inslee said.

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