Federal investigators cite hospitals for refusing abortions (AP)

Federal government investigators have said that two hospitals violating federal law by declining to perform abortions for women who were in premature labor.

The investigators’ finding, obtained by the Associate Press, said that Freeman Health System in Joplin, Missouri, and Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas had each broken a federal law that requires hospitals to provide abortions is a woman’s health is in danger. The federal law clashes with more restrictive laws in some states.

No penalties have been assessed against the two hospitals, but the institutions were put on notice of their violations. Xavier Becerra, the secretary of Health and Human Services, promised “to and enforce the law to the fullest extent of our legal authority, in accordance with orders from the courts.”