The Christian Medical & Dental Association in particular alleges that the rule would require doctors to administer hormonal treatments to adolescents whose parents support their gender transition despite the fact that the organization believe such treatments to be risky to development and unethical.
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Other federal courts have upheld that the term “sex” includes gender identity in federal non-discrimination laws. And a physician that, for religious or conscientious reasons can not perform a particular procedure, chooses to instead refer a patient to another health care provider may also be determined to be in violation of this new rule.
The new regulations only apply to entities that receive federal funds, but the religiously affiliated healthcare providers claim that the new rules could put their doctors and other employees in a position where they are compelled to give treatments that contradict their religious beliefs, such as “hormone therapies, gender-reassignment surgery or hysterectomies for transgender men”. “It is both appalling and illegal for the federal government to force Kentucky taxpayers to foot the bill for sex-change operations”.
The medical providers identified as plaintiffs in the case are the Franciscan Alliance, an Indiana-based Catholic non-profit system; the Speciality Physicians of IL, a Catholic non-profit offering services in the Chicago suburbs; and the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, another non-profit in IL. This time the court fight relates to Obamacare and new rules by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) interpreting “sex” as it relates to gender. The federal government is “forcing them to choose between federal funding and their livelihood as healthcare providers and their exercise of religion”, the wrote in a court filing.
“No doctor should be forced to perform a procedure that he or she believes will harm a child”, Windham said.
The lawsuit was filed a day after a federal judge in Texas blocked a directive that would have required public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, called the lawsuit a “thinly-veiled attack on transgender people”. “It bans discrimination. It’s there to make sure that transgender people can get the treatment we need without facing harassment – or worse”.
Paxton said the impact of the new rule is significant to Texas health care providers in that it forces health care workers, including doctors, to provide controversial services, even if those services are not in the best interest of the patient.
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“This regulation does not undermine medical judgment”, Keisling added.
