First, they argued about wedding cakes. Now they’ve moved on to emergency room care.
In a move celebrated by religious conservatives, the Department of Health and Human Services will set up a new division to support medical personnel who decline to provide patient care when they have a religious or moral objection to providing such care. Though the policy mandate is at this point broad, officials suggested that healthcare workers were being coerced into providing services (or referrals for services) such as abortion, assisted suicide, and gender affirmation surgery.
Critics argue that the new office is a solution in search of a problem, as such procedures are typically handled by specialists. Moreover, women’s groups, LGBTQ groups, and medical associations are alarmed that so-called “religious exemption” rules will create confusion about care and open the door to discrimination.
“The agency charged with protecting our health is now inviting providers to deny life-saving medical care to people based on who we are,” said Kris Hayashi, executive director of the Transgender Law Center. “We will see them in court.”
Undaunted, the administration and conservative Republicans have long argued that rules baked into the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama unduly compelled hospitals, including those run by religious institutions, to provide types of care –particularly for women–that ran counter to conservative religious doctrine.
“No one should be forced to choose between helping sick people and living by one’s deepest moral or religious convictions, and the new division will help guarantee that victims of unlawful discrimination find justice,” said Roger Servino, the director of HHS’s Office of Civil Rights, which will oversee the new division.
“For too long, too many of these health-care practitioners have been bullied and discriminated against,” added Acting HHS Secretary Eric Hargan at the ceremony announcing the new division, according to the Washington Post. (Historically, the Office of Civil Rights has focused on how patients are treated, as opposed to the rights of doctors and nurses.)
Coming on the eve of a major pro-life rally, the move is likely as much about stoking President Trump’s conservative base as it is about protecting the rights of downtrodden medical staff. Last year, The Hill reports, the HHS reported that it received only 34 religious or conscience complaints.