{"id":251350,"date":"2021-08-17T06:37:14","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T11:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=251350"},"modified":"2021-08-16T16:39:25","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T21:39:25","slug":"court-mandate-obama-conscience-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-mandate-obama-conscience-protections\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge blocks Obama-era mandate removing pro-life conscience protections"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a major victory for pro-life health care providers, a federal court has blocked<\/a>\u00a0a mandate requiring physicians to participate in abortions as instructed by their employers or face steep penalties. The Obama-era mandate<\/a> was previously blocked by courts but the Biden-Harris administration attempted to resurrect<\/a> it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On August 9th, Judge Reed O\u2019Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a permanent injunction to the \u201cChristian Plaintiffs,\u201d described as a Catholic hospital and Christian health care association, who sued against the mandate on the grounds that it violated their conscience protections in the case of Franciscan Alliance, Inc. et al. v. Xavier Becerra<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Judge Reed\u2019s <\/span>ruling<\/span><\/a> found that the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 mandate would cause \u201cirreparable harm\u201d to religious liberty protections, as defined by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993.\u00a0Although the rule had already been blocked by previous legal action and court injunctions and then reinterpreted by the Trump administration, the Biden administration had sought to reinvigorate the Obama-era pro-abortion interpretation and enforce it with fines and other administrative actions. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHere, Christian Plaintiffs contend that violation of their statutory rights under RFRA is an irreparable harm,\u201d the ruling states. \u201cThe Court agrees and concludes that enforcement of the 2021 Interpretation forces Christian Plaintiffs to face civil penalties or to perform gender-transition procedures and abortions contrary to their religious beliefs\u2014a quintessential irreparable injury.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The ruling means that Health and Human Services Secretary pro-abortion Xavier Becerra will be prohibited “from interpreting or enforcing” the law “in a manner that would require them to perform or provide insurance\u00a0coverage for gender-transition procedures or abortions, including by denying Federal financial assistance because of their failure to perform or provide insurance coverage for such procedures or by otherwise pursuing, charging, or assessing any penalties, fines, assessments, investigations, or other enforcement actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ:<\/strong>\u00a0Spain plans to expand its abortion laws, end conscience protections for doctors<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, celebrated the ruling on Twitter<\/a>. \u201cToday\u2019s ruling protects patients, aligns with current medical research, and ensures doctors aren\u2019t forced to violate their religious beliefs and medical judgment \u2014 a victory for common sense, conscience, and sound medicine,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s ruling protects patients, aligns with current medical research, and ensures doctors aren\u2019t forced to violate their religious beliefs and medical judgment–a victory for common-sense, conscience, and sound medicine. fin\/<\/p>\n

— Luke Goodrich (@LukeWGoodrich) August 9, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n