In a decision a day before Joe Biden took the oath of office<\/strong>, United States District Court Chief Judge\u00a0Peter D. Welte from North Dakota granted a request to block the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from enforcing an Obamacare mandate that compels medical professionals and healthcare providers to perform gender transition services.<\/p>\n In 2016, the HHS issued a rule interpreting\u00a0Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which prohibits certain forms of discrimination in healthcare, including sex discrimination.<\/p>\n The rule prohibited insurers and third party administrations from offering or administer health plans with gender-transition exclusions. The regulation also prohibited a healthcare provider from refusing to offer medical services for gender transitions if that provider offered comparable services to others.<\/p>\n The rule did not provide an exemption for religious grounds, arguing that Title IX\u2019s religious exemptions\u00a0only apply to an educational context.<\/a>\u00a0The department at the time also argued that \u201ca blanket religious exemption could result in a denial or delay in the provision of health care to individuals and in discouraging individuals from seeking necessary care.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The department instead explained that it would consider religious exemptions on an individualized case-by-case basis for claims under the 1993\u00a0Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).<\/p>\n An order of Catholic nuns, a Catholic university, and Catholic healthcare organizations challenged the mandate under the RFRA, while the state of North Dakota joined the lawsuit to challenge the mandate under a federal law known as the Administrative Procedure Act that governs rulemaking by administrative\u00a0agencies.<\/p>\n The mandate was previously put on hold by a federal judge in North Dakota and was struck down in 2019 by another federal court in Texas. Under the Trump administration, HHS passed a new rule aimed at walking back the mandate. However, the 2020 rule was blocked by separate challenges in other\u00a0courts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Welte said in his decision that the plaintiffs have shown \u201can entitlement\u201d for injunctive relief, saying that a violation under the RFRA is comparable to\u00a0the deprivation of a First Amendment right.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Catholic healthcare entities\u2019 refusal to perform or cover gender-transition procedures is predicated on an exercise of their religious beliefs protected by the First Amendment,\u201d Welte said (pdf<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cAbsent an injunction, [plantiffs] will either be \u2018forced to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs\u2019 by performing and covering gender-transition procedures \u2018or to incur severe monetary penalties for refusing to comply,’\u201d he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Attorney\u00a0Luke Goodrich, senior counsel at Becket, a religious organization representing the plaintiffs, said the court\u2019s decision \u201crecognizes our medical heroes\u2019 right to practice medicine in line with their conscience and without politically motivated interference from government bureaucrats.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese religious doctors and hospitals provide top-notch medical care to all patients for everything from cancer to the common cold,\u201d Goodrich said\u00a0in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAll they\u2019re asking is that they be allowed to continue serving their patients as they\u2019ve done for decades, without being forced to perform controversial, medically unsupported procedures that are against their religious beliefs and potentially harmful to their patients. The Constitution and federal law require no less.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n During his campaign, Biden had vowed to push LGBTQ rights as part of his agenda, including coverage for care related to gender transitioning and surgery. He signed an executive order on his first day as president to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual discrimination.<\/p>\n Xavier Becerra, who has been tapped by Biden to lead the HHS,\u00a0had previously argued in favor<\/a>\u00a0of using taxpayers\u2019 money to provide\u00a0transgender individuals\u00a0in North Carolina with coverage for gender transitioning surgery and treatment.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/DHS-logo-1-700x420.jpg?itok=DlNyF1L7\"){kind=logo}
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