In the two days since the Trump administration's rollback of federal guidance on EMTALA, a new wave of headlines has swept across social media:

"Trump just made it legal for hospitals to let pregnant people die."

"Emergency rooms can now refuse life-saving abortion care."

As a clinician, I know those aren't true.

As a reproductive health strategist and communicator, I know they're dangerous.

And we all know precisely what happens next: confusion, delay, and danger.

Let's be clear- EMTALA is still in effect.

It still requires hospitals to provide stabilizing emergency care, including abortion, when necessary to prevent serious harm or death in all 50 states. This week, the Trump administration rescinded the federal guidance issued under the Biden administration, a clarification meant to help hospitals navigate what was already law in the wake of Roe's fall.

But that nuance, that the law remains, even as they rescinded this guidance, didn't trend.

The panic did.

Messaging Is Both Political and Clinical

When headlines tell the public that hospitals are "allowed to let women die," we create a different kind of emergency, one rooted in mistrust.

Patients internalize those messages. They begin to doubt the healthcare system. They wonder if anyone will help them. Some bleed at home instead of going to the ER. It furthers medical mistrust.

I've already heard from patients who are scared to show up in emergencies because they believe hospitals will turn them away. That fear isn't irrational—it's the natural outcome of a system that has failed too many women like Amber Nicole Thurman.

And providers feel it, too. When social media, national news, colleagues, and even advocacy organizations start circulating the idea that protections have been revoked without context or clarity, our instinct is to second-guess, to pause, to wonder if the legal ground beneath us has shifted again.

In medicine, uncertainty delays care. And in emergency medicine, that delay can be deadly.

What We Say Shapes What People Do

The words we use to talk about emergency abortion care matter. A lot.

In an ever-changing and hostile landscape, messaging that focuses only on what's lost or changed without emphasizing what still holds risks making things worse. It leaves both patients and providers unsure.

We need to be more intentional about how we frame these shifts—all of us, including journalists, content creators, policy experts, and, yes, clinicians.

This doesn't mean we downplay reality. The rollback of federal EMTALA guidance is serious. It has real consequences for how confidently care is delivered in abortion-ban states. But when we speak publicly about these changes, we need to be precise.

Most people don't know what EMTALA is. If we don't explain it clearly, the loudest and often most extreme voices will define it for them.

Fear spreads fast, and in healthcare, it clouds decision-making. It can cause patients to delay care and cause providers to hesitate. What leads to better outcomes isn't panic; it's clarity.

In this ever-changing and hostile landscape, clarity isn't just clinical. It's communicative. It shows up in how we talk to our patients, how we engage with the media, and how we respond on social platforms. Once a story breaks, how we talk about it can shape some of the damage or recovery that follows.

Social Media Isn't Neutral

The truth is that most people (including many of our patients) get their health information from social media. Right now, that information is being flooded with fear: headlines that distort reality, TikToks that go viral without context, and posts that erode trust in hospitals and providers.

It's not all true. But it is changing what people believe about emergency medicine in the United States and what they expect (or don't expect) when they walk through our doors.

If you're an ER physician or healthcare provider reading this, I'm not here to tell you what to say. I'm here to remind you what you already know:

You were trained to save lives.

You don't need permission to care for someone in crisis.

And no matter what the headlines say, you know what stabilizing care looks like when it's in front of you.

So, if you want to use your voice, use it to refute the fear-mongering.

Stand up for the truth.

Stand up for your profession.

And please, with everything in my soul, I urge you to stand in your integrity as a clinician who always shows up for a crisis patient. Because, as ER docs, that's who you are.

That's what emergency medicine is.