Biden administration targets healthcare conscience protections

On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will enforce Affordable Care Act anti-discrimination measures based on people’s preferred genders. This means the HHS Office for Civil Rights will investigate complaints of sex discrimination according to so-called gender identity. The government could sanction medical providers for failing to observe people’s chosen identities.

What will this change? Last summer, the Trump administration defined sex as biological sex, but a federal judge blocked the new rules from taking effect. The Biden administration is essentially returning to the policy and practice of former President Barack Obama, who denied religious liberty to healthcare providers who resisted providing abortions and gender transition procedures.

Dig deeper: Read Steve West’s report in Liberties on Health Secretary Xavier Becerra’s fight to overturn a court ruling that protected Catholic doctors from having to participate in gender transition procedures under the Affordable Care Act.