HHS creates new division to protect religious beliefs of health care workers News
HHS creates new division to protect religious beliefs of health care workers

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) [official website] on Thursday introduced [press release] the new Conscience and Freedom of Religion Division [materials].

The purpose of this program is to reinforce preexisting legislation protecting “fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious freedom.” Other forms of enforcement authority include Church, Coates-Snow, and Weldon Amendments [materials], on abortion, Section 1553 of the Affordable Care Act [text] on assisted dying, and a variety HHS programs prohibiting discrimination.

These protections have stemmed from disputes over the First Amendment [LII materials]. Director of the Office for Civil Rights, Roger Severino [official websites], explained:

Laws protecting religious freedom and conscience rights are just empty words on paper if they aren’t enforced. No one should be forced to choose between helping sick people and living by one’s deepest moral or religious convictions, and the new division will help guarantee that victims of unlawful discrimination find justice. For too long, governments big and small have treated conscience claims with hostility instead of protection, but change is coming and it begins here and now.

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