WICHITA FALLS, Texas — By annulling an Obama administration
requirement that doctors perform gender transition procedures or treatments, as
well as abortions, a federal judge in Texas has upheld the conscience rights of
medical professionals across the nation, said a lawyer for plaintiffs in the
case.
"It is critically important that doctors are able to
continue serving patients in keeping with their consciences and their
professional medical judgment, especially when it comes to the personal health
choices of families and children," said Luke Goodrich, vice president and
senior counsel at Becket, a Washington-based nonprofit religious liberty law
firm.
In an Oct. 15 ruling, Judge Reed O'Connor of U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of Texas in Wichita Falls affirmed his previous
decision that "the rule imposes a substantial burden on private
plaintiffs' religious exercise."
In 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a
regulation, applicable to virtually every doctor in the country, that would
have required them to recognize abortion or sex-change operations as
appropriate medical care or face prosecution for sex discrimination.
Becket filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Texas on
behalf of Franciscan Alliance, a religious hospital network sponsored by the
Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration, and the Christian Medical &
Dental Associations, defending them from the new government regulation. The
states of Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska and Wisconsin also joined in the
suit.
On Dec. 31, 2016, O'Connor granted a nationwide, preliminary
injunction against the HHS regulation. His ruling came a day before it was to
take effect.
In his new ruling, he reviewed his earlier decision. "The
court is careful not to weigh or evaluate the relevant doctrines of
faith," he wrote, but has "concluded that (the) plaintiffs refusal to
perform, refer for, or cover transitions or abortions is a sincere religious
exercise."
In his statement, Goodrich said O'Connor's ruling "marks a
major victory for compassion, conscience and sound medical judgment."
"Doctors cannot do their jobs if government bureaucrats are
trying to force them to perform potentially harmful procedures that violate
their medical and moral judgment," he added.