Contact The Editor
Articles By This Author
Specific details are scheduled to be announced Thursday. But the new policy appears to be broad and aimed at protecting health-care workers who cite those reasons for refusing to take part in abortions, to treat transgender patients or to participate in other types of care.
Conservative groups praised the move Wednesday as upholding providers' right to religious liberty.
"We think the Trump administration should set an example in enforcing the multiple conscience laws that have been passed since the 1970s to prevent the government from punishing people who have objections to participating in abortion," said David Christensen, vice president of government affairs at the Family Research Council.
By empowering an enforcement authority, the action will reverse policies put in place under President Barack Obama, and resurrect and expand "conscience protections" introduced under President George W. Bush. The new division, which will be part of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, will not only accept complaints from health-care professionals but will be responsible for ensuring that hospitals, clinics and other institutions across the country are accommodating their beliefs.
The previous administration, Christensen said, had "significantly narrowed enforcement of the laws" in place to safeguard those who oppose abortion or hold other religious convictions.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last year instructing agencies to expand religious liberty under federal law, and HHS has been at the leading edge of implementing that directive. The department issued rules in October that provided broad religious and moral exemptions to the Affordable Care Act's mandate that employers, including for-profit companies, and insurers provide no-cost contraception coverage.