A collection of legal groups sued the Trump administration Tuesday over new rules that protect medical workers with religious objections from being forced to provide or refer to abortion, sterilization, or medically assisted suicide.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, Lambda Legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Santa Clara County are asking the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California to strike down the rule, which they are referring to as the “denial of care rule.” The groups are representing medical facilities, community centers, and civil rights organizations across the U.S.
“Religious liberty is the right to believe or not, to worship or not, as you see fit,” Richard Katskee, legal director at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a phone call with reporters. “When it is distorted into being a weapon, a way to discriminate against and harm other people, to make them bear the costs and burdens of your religious exercise, that goes way beyond what is constitutionally permissible, yet that is exactly what the government has licensed here.”
The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of violating patients’ right to free speech under the First Amendment and also their Fifth Amendment rights. It accuses the Trump administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act that dictates how to conduct rulemaking, alleging that officials failed to consider the impact the rules would have on patients.
In the complaint, the groups wrote that the rule “endangers patients’ health in the name of advancing the religious beliefs of those who are entrusted with caring for them.”
The groups warned that the rule, released May 2 by the Department of Health and Human Services, would let healthcare workers deny medical care to patients because they have personal religious or moral convictions. They said that healthcare facilities might stop providing abortion, sterilization, or gender reassignment surgery out of fear of losing government funds.
“The rule is extremely broad and contains no limits on who is at risk of being denied treatment, even for those in need of emergency care,” Genevieve Scott, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a phone call with reporters.
James Williams, attorney for Santa Clara County, said the rule was written broadly, and that therefore it was possible for a receptionist to refuse to tell patients whether a hospital provides abortion or birth control. The groups said they were concerned transgender patients would hide their identities out of fear of discrimination, which could cause them to receive improper care.
The Trump administration rules don’t make changes to current religious liberty laws, but instead create an enforcement mechanism by which healthcare providers can file with the agency’s Office for Civil Rights when they encounter situations in which they are compelled to provide, discuss, or refer for the services. The Trump administration added the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division to the agency last year to investigate such violations.
Supporters of the Trump administration rules have said they are necessary so that medical providers don’t lose their jobs if they refuse to help in abortions or refuse to refer to doctors who will prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients.
