FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2019
Contact: Shannon Minter – 415-624-6071; Email sminter@nclrights.org
(Washington, DC) Today the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the final version of a rule that expands the ability of health care providers and institutions to refuse to provide particular types of healthcare based on their religious or moral beliefs. The new rule also creates new administrative mechanisms to implement and enforce these expanded exemptions.
The following is a statement by Julianna S. Gonen, Policy Director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR):
“This rule does not just implement existing federal conscience protections for healthcare providers, it dramatically expands them in ways that will lead to dangerous denials of reproductive health care, and put vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ people, at risk of increased discrimination. We’ve seen firsthand, through our Legal Help Line and our Rural Pride campaign, that health care discrimination against LGBTQ people is already pervasive and causes serious harm to individuals and families. In many communities in this country, LGBTQ people routinely face open hostility and outright denials of care from doctors, hospitals, therapists, and other health care providers. Rather than addressing this serious problem, HHS issued a rule that will make it worse.”
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The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. www.NCLRights.org