Gov. Andrew Cuomo once said that pro-lifers “have no place” in New York.
On Wednesday, a federal judge moved to make that recommendation a legal reality.
“A federal judge has struck down a Trump administration rule that would have allowed for healthcare workers to refuse to provide or refer to sterilizations, abortions, and medically assisted suicide if doing so violated their faith,” the Washington Examiner’s Kimberly Leonard reports.
She adds that the order, which was handed down Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York, “Blocks the rule from going into effect on its scheduled Nov. 22 enforcement date.”
The Department of Health and Human Services’ conscience rule, Engelmayer claims in his 147-page order, violated “administrative procedures.” Moreover, the judge adds, HHS ignored public comments.
The conscience rule “represents a classic solution in search of a problem,” Engelmayer’s order reads.
The HHS conscience rule makes no changes to religious liberty laws already on the books, Leonard explains. Rather, the rule creates an enforcement mechanism by which healthcare professionals can report to the Office for Civil Rights if their employer compels them to “provide, discuss, or refer” abortions. The Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, which was added to HHS in 2018, has been tasked with investigating religious liberty violations. Healthcare organizations found in violation of religious liberty laws stand to lose their federal funding.
Engelmayer objects to the Trump administration’s characterization of the enforcement mechanism as “mere housekeeping,” arguing that the HHS rule would make it difficult for employers to avoid “inefficiencies and dislocations.” Because that is obviously the most important consideration here — not that healthcare workers may be forced to violate their consciences, in violation of federal law.
Take a bow, Gov. Cuomo. You are one step closer to realizing a New York free from all those pesky pro-lifers.
