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AUSTIN, Texas (CNS) — A federal judge in Texas Dec. 31
blocked a regulation by the Department of Health and Human Services requiring
Catholic hospitals and health care providers to perform or provide gender
transition services, saying it would place “substantial pressure” on
the plaintiffs — a coalition of religious medical organizations who said the
ruling was contrary to their religious beliefs.
“Plaintiffs
will be forced to either violate their religious beliefs or maintain their
current policies, which seem to be in direct conflict with the rule and risk the
severe consequences of enforcement,” U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor wrote.
The injunction
comes four months after the same judge blocked a federal directive requiring public
schools to let transgender students use bathrooms consistent with their gender
identity.
The regulation from the Department of Health and Human Services requires that Catholic hospitals and health care providers perform or provide gender transition services, hormonal treatments and counseling as well as a host of surgeries that would remove or transform the sexual organs of men or women transitioning to the other gender. The HHS regulation requires group health plans to cover these procedures and services.
In the suit
filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Wichita
Falls, the Washington-based Becket Fund represented two groups against the new
government regulation: Franciscan Alliance, a religious hospital network
sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration and the
Christian Medical and Dental Association. The states of Texas, Kansas,
Kentucky, Nebraska and Wisconsin also joined in the suit.
“This
court ruling is an across-the-board victory that will ensure that deeply
personal medical decisions, such as gender transition procedures, remain
between families and their doctor,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket Law.
She
also said the judge’s decision was “a common-sense ruling” noting that
the government “has no business forcing private doctors to perform
procedures that the government itself recognizes can be harmful, particularly
to children, and that the government exempts its own doctors from performing.”
A similar
lawsuit was filed against the HHS ruling Dec. 28 by the Catholic Benefits
Association, the Diocese of Fargo and Catholic Charities North Dakota in U.S.
District Court in North Dakota.
“We
ask only for the freedom to serve consistent with our conscience and our
Catholic faith,” Bishop John T. Folda of Fargo said in a statement,
released by the Catholic Benefits Association. “While we do not
discriminate against individuals because of their orientation, our Catholic
values will not permit us to pay for or facilitate actions that are contrary to
our faith.”
The
Catholic Benefits Association is made up of Catholic dioceses, hospitals,
school systems, religious orders and other entities that offer their employees
insurance and benefit programs that adhere to Catholic teaching.
The
regulation, which also mandates abortions be performed, affects health
insurers, hospitals and health plans administered by or receiving federal funds
from HHS. There is no religious exemption.
The
final HHS regulation was published in May. It applies to implementing Section
1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which provides that individuals cannot be
subject to discrimination based on their race, color, national origin, sex, age
or disability.
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