In its first year, the Biden administration has repeatedly used the Department of Health and Human Services and issued executive orders to pit the growing transgender lobby against religious liberty. A federal court in Texas ruled last week that the Biden administration’s transgender mandate, which would force doctors to perform gender transition procedures against their religious beliefs and medical training, violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The plaintiff is Franciscan Alliance, a faith-based group of hospitals and healthcare professionals who provide medical care to everyone. In the ruling, the court says, “Here, Christian Plaintiffs contend that violation of their statutory rights under RFRA is an irreparable harm. The Court agrees and concludes that enforcement of the 2021 Interpretation forces Christian Plaintiffs to face civil penalties or to perform gender-transition procedures and abortions contrary to their religious beliefs — a quintessential irreparable injury.”
Later, the Texas court says, “Plaintiffs identified the substantial burden on their religious exercise as resulting from HHS’s attempt to ‘forc[e] them to choose between federal funding and their livelihood as healthcare providers and their exercise of religion.’ That was the alleged RFRA violation then. That was the alleged RFRA violation before the Court in 2019. And that is the same RFRA violation the Court found today.”
As one of the attorneys on the case, Becket’s Luke Goodrich, tweeted:
Today’s ruling protects patients, aligns with current medical research, and ensures doctors aren’t forced to violate their religious beliefs and medical judgment–a victory for common-sense, conscience, and sound medicine. fin/
— Luke Goodrich (@LukeWGoodrich) August 9, 2021
Of course, the federal court found that forcing faith-based doctors to treat patients in a way that goes against their faith and medical training violates their religious liberties, protected under both federal law and the Constitution. There is truly no other way to rule in this case. It is remarkable, in fact, that the Biden administration thought this was not only the right thing but the lawful thing to do.
In the eight months since President Joe Biden has taken office, the administration has assured the public that the marginalized have been wronged, that they lack equal footing in society, both legally and socially, and that the administration will right this by sheer will, issuing rash edicts and using federal departments to accomplish them. Biden and his administration are then cheered for this “accomplishment.”
First, this premise is false. The public enjoys more parity than anyone else in the world. Second, this push for so-called equality has actually usurped the rights of orthodox people in order to assure that the Democratic-voting, transgender bloc remain faithful liberals. It’s also worth noting that should some grievous inequality remain in America, it should not be resolved by executive order or a federal department but by the will of the people via Congress.
Last week, and for the second time, a federal court has found that the Biden administration may not just fabricate orders out of the sky and thrust them onto a faithful medical group if following that mandate violates their religious conscience and their sound medical advice. This is good news for those who remain faithful followers of religious tradition.
It should also be a relief to anyone who sees politicians usurp the will of the people and use HHS or issue edicts from the White House that violate federal law to mandate equality at the price of others’ freedoms. Doing so is wrong, un-American, and, so far, will not be tolerated by federal courts.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
