Federal Judge Blocks Biden Rule Forcing Doctors to Perform Sex-Change Surgeries
August 11, 2021
A federal judge in Texas blocked an Obama-era mandate reinstated by the Biden administration requiring medical facilities and health insurers to cover or provide gender transition procedures and abortions.
U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas granted a permanent injunction on Monday against the regulation in the case of Franciscan Alliance, Inc. et al. v. Xavier Becerra.
O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, concluded that the mandate issued through the Department of Health and Human Services violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by unjustly harming the plaintiffs' religious practices.
“No party disputes that the [Transgender Mandate] threatens to burden Christian Plaintiffs’ religious exercise … by placing substantial pressure on Christian Plaintiffs, in the form of fines and civil liability, to perform and provide insurance coverage for gender-transition procedures and abortions,” wrote the judge.
“When the RFRA violation is clear and the threat of irreparable harm is present, a permanent injunction exempting Christian Plaintiffs from that religion-burdening conduct is the appropriate relief.”
Story by Michael Gryboski for the Christian Post.
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