'Conscience rule' delay approved by White House
HHS will delay implementation of a rule allowing medical workers to refuse to perform certain treatments on moral grounds while it deals with legal challenges.
The Trump administration has agreed to postpone implementation of a rule that would allow medical workers to refuse to perform abortions or other treatments on moral or religious grounds while lawyers duke it out over a challenge to the rule in a California court.
According to the Associated Press, the rule was announced in May and was scheduled to take effect on July 22. However, reports The Hill, it is being challenged in numerous lawsuits that include one filed by a coalition of Democratic states, another filed in Santa Clara County by a coalition that includes Lambda Legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Center for Reproductive Rights, a third by the city of San Francisco and another by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D).
Related: HHS rule change protects ‘conscience’ care refusals
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in a court filing Saturday that implementation would be delayed at least until November 22 due to the legal challenges. The rule exceeds the authority of HHS, according to a California lawsuit, while another says it is unconstitutional.
The Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority rule would, according to the AP, “require institutions that receive money from federal programs to certify that they comply with some 25 federal laws protecting conscience and religious rights” pertaining chiefly to medical procedures such as abortion, sterilization and assisted suicide.
San Francisco alone would stand to lose some $1 billion in federal funds for health care-related programs. “The Trump administration is trying to systematically limit access to critical medical care for women, the LGBTQ community, and other vulnerable patients,” San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement when announcing the city’s lawsuit. “Hospitals are no place to put personal beliefs above patient care.”
In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said after filing suit, “The federal government is giving health care providers free license to openly discriminate and refuse care to patients – a gross misinterpretation of religious freedom that will have devastating consequences on communities throughout the country.”
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