Trump-Backed
'Conscience' Rule for Healthcare
Providers Voided by US Judge.
The rule made it easier for
healthcare workers, including
doctors and nurses, to deny certain
services due to moral or religious reasons.
Critics of the rule have said it could
allow for open discrimination against
the LGBTQ community or refusal
to perform abortion procedures.
According to U.S. District
Judge Paul Engelmayer, the
"conscience" rule is coercive. .
It would permit the withholding
of billions in federal funding from
providers that failed to comply.
Wherever the outermost line where persuasion gives way to coercion lies, the threat to pull all HHS funding here crosses it, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, via Reuters.
Judge Engelmayer's ruling stands
in New York and 21 other states.
A similar lawsuit filed in
California is also challenging the rule