HHS Reorganizes Civil Rights Office to Prioritize Religious Freedom and Conscience Protections

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on Sunday that it had reorganized its office for civil rights, elevating conscience and religious freedom as top priorities. The reorganized office will require federal agencies, state and local governments, healthcare providers, health plans and others to focus on protecting the free exercise of religion and conscience and the right to be free from coercion in HHS-conducted or funded programs, according to the public notice.

The Guardian reported the announcement. On Friday the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report on religious liberty that references abortion, vaccines and gender-affirming care. The report quotes anti-vaccine activists and parents who do not want their children vaccinated.

Elizabeth Sepper said the most common violation of the church amendment cited by the HHS office is discrimination against abortion providers. She added that statutes allowing hospitals and individual health providers to refuse certain kinds of healthcare could be interpreted broadly to include vaccines or gender-affirming care.

Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, said the moves signal that some priorities of the right-to-life movement will rise at the agency.

She noted that school vaccine requirements are set at the state level. Sepper said the U.S. Supreme Court opinion on EMTALA suggested providers would have a conscience right to refuse emergency medical care under the law.

She also said the HHS civil rights office has downplayed discrimination against disabled people and transgender patients. The Guardian contacted HHS for comment.