States, Catholic hospital network file suit against HHS transgender regulation

August 25, 2016

A Catholic hospital network, five states, and the Christian Medical & Dental Associations have filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services over regulations related to persons who identify themselves as transgendered.

Under the regulations, a medical provider or private insurer’s decision not to provide gender-transition procedures is seen as a violation of federal civil rights laws that bar sex discrimination.

“We believe that it is important to ensure that civil rights protections are extended to transgender individuals to afford them equal access to health coverage, including for health services related to gender transition,” the department stated in its regulation. “The across-the-board categorization of all transition-related treatment, for example as experimental, is outdated and not based on current standards of care.”

“On pain of significant financial liability, the Regulation forces doctors to perform controversial and sometimes harmful medical procedures ostensibly designed to permanently change an individual’s sex—including the sex of children,” the Franciscan Alliance and other plaintiffs stated in their lawsuit. “Under the new Regulation, a doctor must perform these procedures even when they are contrary to the doctor’s medical judgment and could result in significant, long-term medical harm.”

 

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Further information:

• Suit Challenges New HHS Rules On Discrimination Against Transgender Individuals (Religion Clause)
• Suit Challenges New HHS Rules On Discrimination Against Transgender Individuals (Becket Fund)
• Obama Administration Trans Rights Challenged Again (US News & World Report)