In May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its final “conscience” rule excusing medical providers from participating in treatment procedures to which they have religious or moral objections. However, the HHS has now postponed the implementation of this rule.
Also, many critics attacked the Trump administration’s “conscience” rule, which includes discrimination against the LGBT community and women, resulting in some providers denying lifesaving medical care.
The rule is originally set to be implemented on July 22; however, HHS is delaying it until November 22 because of an attack of lawsuits the health department received in the wake of Trump’s announcement of the rule.
Many agencies such as Lambda Legal and Democrat-led states such as New York as well as cities such as San Francisco have filed a lawsuit against the HHS, objecting to the “conscience” rule that will put women and LGBTQ health at risk.
Many people fear that the new rule will give rise to more confusion and encourage conservative doctors other medical professionals to deny transition-related care for transgender people, contraception services, and recommending drugs such as PrEP to prevent HIV.
The new rule would greatly affect women and the LGBTQ community in rural areas where there are very much few medical service providers.
In May, Jocelyn Samuels, Executive Director of UCLA’s Williams Institute, said, “In the Obama administration, we were focused on expanding access to health care through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the full and balanced enforcement of anti-discrimination and provider conscience laws.” Samuels added, “By contrast, this administration is simultaneously trying to restrict universal access to care through attacks on the ACA and expand the authorization for denials of care by religious providers. These actions stand to undermine the health and wellbeing of vulnerable communities, including LGBT people.”
