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  • 2018-01-18 (xsd:date)
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  • Will Health and Human Services Allow Doctors to Refuse to Treat LGBTQ Patients? (en)
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  • On 18 January 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that they would expand protections for health care providers who refuse to provide abortion-related care or apply anti-discrimination protections against certain clients for religious reasons: The announcement quickly led to criticism and threats of potential legal action from pro-LGBTQ advocacy groups. Louise Melling, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, told us in a statement: In a separate statement, HHS indicated that they would follow a 31 December 2016 order issued by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, who determined that the agency could not require that anti-discrimination protections for patients mandated by the Affordable Care Act cover gender identity as well as services relating to abortion: O'Connor, who was appointed to the bench by then-President President George W. Bush in 2007, wrote that Plaintiffs will be forced to either violate their religious beliefs or maintain their current policies which seem to be in direct conflict with the Rule and risk the severe consequences of enforcement. Severino had objected to the idea of gender identity applying to patient protections before taking his position at HHS, and in January 2016 he co-authored a report for the conservative group the Heritage Foundation stating that such regulations would lead to unreasonable and costly litigation for health care providers and insurers, among others: The ACLU warned on their Twitter account that should the department's new initiative proceed, we will see them in court. The Human Rights Campaign also criticized the HHS announcement, saying that they would continue to make sure that bigotry has no place in the health care arena: (en)
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