“The HHS announcement of its new interpretation of sex discrimination in health care undermines medical conscience rights and disregards the will of Congress as articulated in the Administrative Procedures Act.”
For Immediate Release
(Troy, MI) May 12, 2021
On May 10th, the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) made the concerning announcement of its attempt to reverse an earlier HHS nondiscrimination rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act that recognized the scientific biological reality of ‘sex.’ The HHS announcement of its new interpretation of sex discrimination in health care undermines medical conscience rights and disregards the will of Congress as articulated in the Administrative Procedures Act which generally requires federal departments to follow a democratic regulatory process.
Louis Brown, Esq., Executive Director of the Christ Medicus Foundation, said: “All people are created in God’s image and deserving of love and respect. Particularly in health care, all people should be protected from unjust discrimination and medical professionals should be protected from unjust violations of their civil right of medical conscience. Unfortunately, however, under the Department’s new announcement, healthcare providers receiving federal funding could be forced, under certain circumstances, into an unjust, unethical, and irrational choice: to either perform gender transition procedures that those health care providers find to be unethical and harmful to the patient or to violate federal law. This new HHS announcement represents a serious violation of the civil right of medical conscience for medical professionals.
“Biological sex is not only a fundamental, unchangeable quality of every person, it is also a vital fact for medical diagnosis, care and medical research in many circumstances. Attempting to coerce medical professionals to perform gender transition related procedures undermines science-based medicine. The performance of unethical procedures can also harm the health and wellbeing of patients. This new action can be used to force countless medical professionals to violate the most fundamental principle of medicine – do no harm to the patient,” said Brown.
Jordan Buzza, J.D., Director of CMF CURO, additionally noted: “HHS’ new announcement was done outside of the normal regulatory process that calls for federal regulatory agencies to engage in notice and public comment as part of its rulemaking process. The Administrative Procedures Act (APA) plays an important role in upholding the will of Congress, in ensuring public accountability, and in preserving the rule of law. The timing and nature of this new announcement suggests that it may well be a violation of the federal APA.”
PRESS CONTACT: Kathy Dempsey for Christ Medicus Foundation
202-359-4379; [email protected]