Trump Administration to Protect Health Workers with ‘Moral Objections’

According to POLITICO, the Trump administration is expected to announce an overhaul of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Civil Rights Office sometime today. The overhaul is a part of a broader plan to protect health workers who object to providing birth control, abortions, and treatment to transgender patients, on religious and moral grounds.

Under this proposal, the HHS Civil Rights Office will have the power to punish organizations that do not allow for moral objections from health workers, mainly referring to women’s rights and LGBT groups.

Harper Jean Tobin of the National Center for Transgender Equality was reported as saying that the overhaul is “the use of religion to hurt people because you disapprove of who they are.” Meanwhile, Heritage Foundation leader Melanie Israel asserts that “ensuring that HHS funds do not support morally coercive or discriminatory practices or policies in violation of federal law should not be remotely controversial.”

Spokespeople for LGBT rights have been quick to call out the Trump administration for discrimination. Towleroad, an LGBT news outlet, reported that the DNC has already released a statement regarding the proposal, which can be read here.