Lengthy Proposed Rule Places Religious Beliefs Above All Other Rights, Endangers Health Care for Women and LGBTQ People
Washington – The Trump administration upped its aggressive effort to rollback health care protections for women and LGBTQ people with a new outlandish and legally suspect HHS proposed rule that encourages health care providers to discriminate in whom they will treat and what services they will provide.
National Health Law Program Executive Director Elizabeth G. Taylor said the Trump proposed rule is an affront to the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberty, and, more dangerously, to the health of tens of millions of women and LGBTQ people.
“This is likely a new low in the Trump administration’s politically driven mission of tearing away health care from women and LGBTQ people, by urging health care providers to discriminate in giving care,” Taylor said. “The announcement of an office to protect health care providers who discriminate based on religious proclivities was an ominous sign. Today’s proposed rule signals the deadly seriousness of the administration’s drastic change in health care policy.”
NHeLP’s Director of Reproductive Health Director Susan Berke Fogel noted that the proposed rule will disproportionately harm women of color and the LGBTQ community.
“HHS’s so-called ‘conscience rights in health care,’ is an incredibly broad proposed rule that is breath-taking in its audacity to allow anyone even remotely connected to the health care system to refuse to provide any service to women or LGBTQ people just by citing a moral or religious reason,” Fogel said. “Trump is turning decades of civil rights protections on their head and perverting existing laws intended to prevent discrimination. These actions demonstrate deep disrespect for our democracy as well as for people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and all vulnerable and underserved populations in this country.
We urge health care advocates, and all human and civil rights advocates to speak out on this proposed rule during the 60-day comment period.”
Please contact NHeLP’s Director of Communications Jeremy Leaming for further comment from Taylor and Fogel on Trump’s proposed rule to permit discrimination in health care.
