The Trump administration withdrew a federal directive that required emergency rooms to provide abortion care in an urgent medical crisis. Now hospitals are scrambling to figure out what it means.

Shares of Universal Health Services and other large U.S. hospital chains fell sharply Monday. The moves appeared to be in response to a directive Friday by President Trump telling the government to scrutinize Medicaid payments more closely.

A federal judge struck down sweeping Trump administration orders that resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of National Institutes of Health research grants.

Internal memos and emails show that Medicaid officials unsuccessfully sought to block the data transfer, citing legal and ethical concerns.

Top advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the details of millions of Medicaid recipients, including names, addresses and health information, given to the Department of

In 2022, the Biden administration issued the existing directive to hospitals in an effort to preserve abortion access for extreme cases in which women were experiencing medical emergencies and needed an abortion to prevent organ loss, severe hemorrhaging, or other serious complications, the AP reported.

The Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded guidance telling health providers who perform abortions in emergency cases that they're protected under federal law, despite any bans that might exist in their states.