Trump admin reverses Obama-era rule forcing doctors to participate in ‘sex changes,’ abortions
by Paul Smeaton, LifeSite:
On Friday the Trump administration announced the reversal of a 2016 “anti-discrimination” rule which would have required healthcare providers receiving federal funds to perform “gender transition” operations and abortions.
In May 2016 the Obama administration redefined “sex discrimination” in section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to include an individual’s “internal sense of gender, which may be male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female.” The 2016 rule also included “termination of pregnancy” in its definition of sex discrimination.
The Obama-era regulations implied that medical providers would have to commit abortions and treat patients based on their asserted “gender identity” or risk losing government aid, along with facing a possible referral to the Department of Justice for legal action.
In December 2016 a federal court issued a nationwide injunction which blocked the enforcement of the Obama regulations on the grounds that they were likely to be contrary to civil rights laws and laws protecting religious freedom. This ruling was subsequently upheld by a second federal court in 2019, which found the regulations to be unlawful.
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