HEALTHCARE/HHS/RELIGION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is planning new exemptions for health-care practitioners with moral or religious objections to performing procedures such as gender-reassignment surgery and abortions.
The move is part of a broader White House effort to protect religious rights that critics say roll back anti-discrimination protections.
The Department of Health and Human Services sent the proposal on Friday [1-12-18] to the White House for review, said a person on Capitol Hill familiar with the matter. The HHS will also establish a division of ‘conscience and religious freedoms’ within its Office for Civil Rights, agency officials said on Thursday… The division will focus on enforcement, policy making, and outreach aimed at shielding health practitioners with moral or religious objections, he said, adding that the government has treated conscience claims with hostility. State and local governments, as well as health facilities, could lose federal funding if they violate conscience protections and don’t come into voluntary compliance, according to the HHS website.
HHD this week debuted an updated website with new information and a way to file online complaints. Practitioners can file complaints online if they believe they were discriminated against because they objected to or refused to participate in procedures, training or research activities involving abortion and sterilization, for example, because they felt it went against their moral conscience.”
-Stephanie Armour and Louise Radnofsky, “Trump to Let Health Practitioners Skip Procedures on Religious Grounds,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 18, 2018 10:37am