Trump Admin. to Lift 'Burdens' on Religious Social Service Providers

— Plans to scrap mandated referrals to alternate providers are a "license to discriminate," opponents say

MedpageToday

WASHINGTON -- A proposed rule by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will scrap "unique regulatory burdens" imposed on religious social service organizations by the Obama administration, the agency said on Thursday.

Current regulations for HHS-supported programs, authorized under a 2010 executive order, stipulate that religious social service providers must make referrals in certain situations to alternative service providers and explain their referral procedures in public notices.

HHS said that the current regulations are not legally required and that because they focus solely on religious service providers, they "are in tension with recent Supreme Court precedent regarding nondiscrimination against religious organizations."

"Americans of faith play an essential role in providing healthcare and human services to so many vulnerable people and communities, and President Trump is dedicated to removing every unfair barrier that stands in the way of this important work," said HHS Secretary Alex Azar in a press release.

This builds on an executive order, issued by President Trump in 2018, which would eliminate the Obama-era requirements from department regulations.

"By compelling religious organizations, but not secular organizations, to post special notices and make referrals, the alternative-provider requirements placed burdens unequally on religious organizations and cast unwarranted suspicion on them," HHS said, adding these "unique regulatory burdens" infringed on the organizations' "religious liberty rights."

Planned Parenthood decried the action in a statement on Thursday, saying these rules "represent a concerted effort by the Trump-Pence administration across the federal government to attack access to sexual and reproductive health care."

"This is the latest in a long line of dangerous policies that could impact peoples' ability to access HIV and STI prevention programs, reproductive health services ... youth homelessness services; and foster care and adoption services," the agency said in a statement.

Jacqueline Ayers, vice president, Government Relations & Public Policy, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, characterized the proposed rule as "dangerous" in a separate statement, saying "it could do serious harm to those who already face barriers to care, including LGBTQ people, women, and religious minorities."

LGBTQ advocacy group The Human Rights Campaign agreed, and added that the new regulations roll back existing protections for LGBTQ people seeking government services and benefits.

"These regulations would dismantle meaningful protections for beneficiaries of these federally funded programs and strip away basic notice requirements designed to ensure that beneficiaries know their rights to be free from discrimination and their right to an alternative, non-religious provider," HRC president Alphonso David said in a statement. "Taxpayer funds should not be used to allow discrimination."

Azar responded by calling these charges "absolute nonsense" in an interview with Fox News, according to Politico. He argued that the agency is merely working to remove burdens placed on faith organizations by the Obama administration.

"If you're a faith-based provider of human services or health care services and receive federal money, you have to basically wear a scarlet 'R' for 'religious,'" Azar said.

The proposed rule will make it clear that religious organizations can apply for awards "on the same basis as any other organization and that when HHS selects award recipients, HHS will not discriminate based on an organization's religious character."

Religious organizations engaged in HHS-supported programs can maintain their independence from the government, HHS said, and "may continue to carry out their missions consistent with religious freedom protections in federal law, including the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment."

The measure was one of several efforts announced by the Trump administration in honor of National Religious Freedom Day on Thursday. The administration also said it will be reinforcing protections for school prayer.