Pro-abortion President Biden is not going to allow his personal job approval rating—now at a feeble 33%—to get in the way of his ongoing service to the Abortion Industry. And that most assuredly includes “scrapping” the most personal protection—the right of conscience–for healthcare workers.
Politico ran a story today under the headline “Biden admin to rescind Trump ‘conscience’ rule for health workers.”
Here’s the lead from Alice Miranda Ollstein’s and Adam Cancryn’s story:
The Biden administration is preparing to scrap a Trump-era rule that allows medical workers to refuse to provide services that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs, three people familiar with the deliberations told POLITICO.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that the policy change is underway, saying: “HHS has made clear through the unified regulatory agenda that we are in the rulemaking process.”
The rule change is imminent. “HHS could announce an end to the policy in the form of a proposed rule as soon as this month,” according to Cassidy Morrison of the Washington Examiner. “The rescission is under review at the Office of Management and Budget, which supervises federal agencies and administers the federal budget.”
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This is part and parcel of the Biden Administration’s systematic dismantling of the Trump administration pro-life legacy. “Democrats promised to do this once they took control of Washington,” Ollstein’s and Cancryn wrote. “Last year, Biden moved to undo anti-abortion restrictions on the Title X family planning program and foreign aid, and many groups have pushed for the ‘conscience’ rule to be next.”
Unveiled in 2018 by President Trump and finalized in 2019, the conscience rule, was blocked by federal courts. It has never been implemented.
If it had gone forward, it would have protected individuals and health care providers from discrimination on the basis of their exercise of conscience in HHS-funded programs. That included abortion.
Here’s how Health and Human Services outlined its objectives in issuing the rule and the background:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced today the issuance of the final conscience rule that protects individuals and health care entities from discrimination on the basis of their exercise of conscience in HHS-funded programs. Just as OCR enforces other civil rights, the rule implements full and robust enforcement of approximately 25 provisions passed by Congress protecting longstanding conscience rights in healthcare.
The final rule fulfills President Trump’s promise to promote and protect the fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious liberty, a promise he made when he signed an executive order in May 2017 protecting religious liberty. In October 2017, the Department of Justice issued guidance encouraging other Departments, including HHS, to implement and enforce all relevant religious freedom laws.
As a result, in January 2018, following the launch of its new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, HHS announced the proposed conscience rule. OCR received over 242,000 public comments, and analyzed and carefully considered all comments submitted from the public on the proposed conscience regulation before finalizing it.
“Finally, laws prohibiting government funded discrimination against conscience and religious freedom will be enforced like every other civil rights law,” said OCR Director Roger Severino. “This rule ensures that healthcare entities and professionals won’t be bullied out of the health care field because they decline to participate in actions that violate their conscience, including the taking of human life.”
Naturally, the Biden administration would strongly object. It’s who they are, it’s what they do.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
