On Friday the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services finally announced that it found California violated the federal conscience protection laws. This is the first time since the launch of the new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division one year ago that OCR has found a violation under these laws.
Several pregnancy resource clinics in California complained that the state of California had fined them for refusing to refer others to, and advertise, abortion clinics. In 2015, California adopted the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency Act, which required pregnancy resource centers to essentially advertise nearby abortion clinics. However, two amendments (the Weldon and Coats-Snowe amendments) prohibit state and local governments that receive certain federal funds from subjecting healthcare entities to discrimination.
