The HHS rule implements the nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act, Section 1557. It protects people from discrimination on the basis of their sex in health care. But HHS interprets Section 1557 to impose new mandates about gender identity. According to the new rule, it would be considered discrimination for a health care worker or Catholic hospital to object outright to performing gender transition procedures, regardless of whether that objection is a matter of religious belief or clinical judgment. The proposed rule also suggests that the government may refuse to honor the right of health care workers and providers not to perform or participate in abortions. The proposed HHS Section 1557 rule could function as both an abortion mandate and a gender transition procedure mandate.
Join the USCCB in encouraging the HHS to clarify that “discrimination on the basis of sex” is not an abortion mandate, and that health care workers and medical facilities must be free to conscientiously object to gender transition procedures. Urge HHS to Do No Harm to Life and Liberty!