Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials are proposing new federal regulations they claim will better protect the religion and conscience rights of individuals seeking or providing health care services.
The proposed regulation—the Safeguarding the Rights of Conscience as Protected by Federal Statutes—was posted in the Federal Register on Dec. 29 for a 60-day comment period, after which officials in the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will post a final version before implementation.
The proposal is intended to follow up litigation that bogged down a May 2019 final rule issued by HHS during the Trump administration that sought to ensure that health care providers, including doctors, nurses, and administrators, who object on religious or other conscience grounds to procedures such as abortion, assisted suicide, sterilization, or trans-gendering surgeries, not be penalized for their beliefs….