HHS Moves to Protect Religious Health Providers

The Trump administration issued a new proposal that would safeguard the conscience rights of hospitals and doctors.

On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a new rule to reverse an Obama-era regulation that would have allowed those seeking abortions or sex changes to sue providers for discrimination. Obama-era regulators had attempted to expand anti-discrimination language in the Affordable Care Act to include gender identity and termination of a pregnancy. The Trump administration is seeking to return to the previous anti-discrimination standard covering race, color, national origin, disability, age, and sex. The agency said this could save "billions of dollars in undue regulatory burdens, further substantive compliance, [and] reduce confusion" over federal discrimination measures.

"In order to better comply with the mandates of Congress, address legal concerns, relieve billions of dollars in undue regulatory burdens, further substantive compliance, reduce confusion, and clarify the scope of Section 1557, the Department proposes … to eliminate provisions that are inconsistent or redundant with pre-existing civil rights statutes," the department said in a proposal published to the Federal Register on Friday. "The Department believes that the [Obama] Rule exceeded its authority … adopted erroneous and inconsistent interpretations of civil rights law, caused confusion, and imposed unjustified and unnecessary costs."

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