The Trump administration cleared the way Thursday for healthcare workers to refuse to provide services—including abortions, gender affirming surgery and contraception—that run counter to their stated moral or religious convictions. This is Roger Severino, head of the Office of Civil Rights inside the Health and Human Services Department.
Roger Severino: “And we are saying, with this launch of a new division, that you do not need to shed your religious identity, you do not need to shed your moral convictions, to be part of the public square. Everyone is entitled to an equal seat.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America blasted the move, tweeting, “Despite the name, this division isn’t *actually* here to enforce religious freedom–it’s designed to protect providers who discriminate against women & LGBTQ people.” The new department is supposedly called the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division. That’s of the HHS.