San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sued the Trump administration on Thursday, accusing it of effectively sacrificing patients’ health and lives by expanding “conscience” protections for patients and health care professionals who opposed controversial treatments.
“At its core, this rule is about denying people medical care,” Herrera said, according to a press release from Thursday. “This administration is willing to sacrifice patients’ health and lives — particularly those of women, members of the LGBTQ community and low-income families — to score right-wing political points. It’s reprehensible.”
Herrera was one of many critics who blasted the administration’s decision after the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) announced it would beef up enforcement of protections for health care professionals who objected to procedures like euthanasia, abortion and sterilization.
“People’s health should not be a political football,” Herrera added. “The intent of this new rule is clear: It’s to prioritize religious beliefs over patient care, thereby undermining access to contraception, abortion, HIV treatment and a host of other medical services.
“We are not going to let the Trump administration push our country back to 1940s health care.”
The city’s lawsuit requested that a court lock the administration from implementing the rule and declare it unconstitutional. According to Herrera’s office, the new rule — it applies to government-funded entities — would also put it at risk of losing nearly $1 billion in federal funding that it says helps low-income families, foster children and others.
Roger Severino, director of HHS’ Office of Civil Rights, defended the policy as a way to provide conscience protections with the same enforcement as other civil rights laws. “Protecting conscience and religious freedom not only fosters greater diversity in health care, it’s the law,” he declared.
Full story at Fox News.
See previous CalCatholic story, “HHS announces implementation of conscience rule“
“Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness”
Very true, but thats a religious response and we are very marginalized, unless of course we are providing a soup kitchen and beds and clothing services for homeless. A long time ago, SF used to be a very Catholic city, and then Vatican II imposed its changes “in the spirit of Vatican II” and we are living with the results. Our current Archbishop Cordileone is trying to restore a Catholic society and I pray for his success.
Well, lemme fix this headline: In their headlong rush to butcher more babies in the womb using our tax dollars, these paragons of virtue have the audacity to label their blood-lust “healthcare”
I love your headline
Well put Jeff.
How ’bout:
Herrera, Becerra, quite contrera,
¿How does your conscience crow?
Hymie, you are a poet par excellence.
And I love Jeff’s headline, too, but would add that many women are butchered in abortion.
This is why I pray to God most days thanking Him for sending US President DJ Trump. He is a gift we did not deserve but has brought sunshine to the fruited plain again after 8 years of amoral darkness.
They know they’re on thin ice. We’re not talking about gall bladder operations or antibiotics for strep throat…they know that if people are empowered to say no to participating in abortion, sterilizations and genital mutilation surgery there is a huge risk of a ‘safety in numbers’ phenomenon where enough credible professionals refusing to participate would create unwanted attention on the reality of what is going on in SF hospitals.