Paxton has led a sustained, targeted attack on LGBTQ Texans, most recently with his filing of a federal lawsuit on behalf of Texas and 10 other states challenging the Departments of Justice and Education’s guidance regarding schools’ obligations to transgender students.
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The United States District Courthouse located in downtown Wichita Falls was also the site chosen for several states to sue the government for opening school bathrooms to transgender students.
DHHS recently announced a new rule implementing an interpretation of the definition of “sex” within the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), information obtained from the Texas Attorney General’s Office by Breitbart Texas disclosed. “The federal government is now attempting to unlawfully redefine the regulation so that “sex” includes one’s gender identity”.
The latest lawsuit contends that the rules, which were finalized in May, could force doctors to help with gender transition contrary to their religious beliefs or medical judgment.
Joining Nebraska in the lawsuit are Wisconsin, Kentucky, Texas and Kansas, along with the Christian Medical and Dental Association and Franciscan Alliance, an Indiana-based network of religious hospitals.
“The only thing a doctor is obliged to do is treat all patients, including trans patients, with dignity and respect and to make treatment decisions free from bias”, Weiss said. “If a doctor has a sound, evidence-based, medical reason to delay transition care for a specific patient, that would be respected under the regulations”.
Supporters of North Carolina’s bathroom rules have urged a federal judge to closely consider a ruling in Texas that has temporarily blocked the Obama administration’s ability to withhold federal money from schools that don’t let transgender students use bathrooms matching their gender identity.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder in Winston-Salem could rule soon.
Defying legal precedent establishing that transgender discrimination amounts to gender discrimination under current law, the lawsuit seeks an injunction barring enforcement of the regulation on the basis it is invalid under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The rule applies to health care providers, including hospitals and doctors that accept federal dollars and insurance plans offered through the federal marketplace.
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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. The number was up to 418 past year, from none in 2002, according to federal health officials.
