The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services is threatening to pull federal funding from California for requiring private insurers to cover abortion.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a notice of violation to California Friday, saying the state was breaking federal conscience laws. Specifically, HHS says the state is in violation of the Weldon Amendment, which bars federal funds for any state or local program that “subjects any institutional or individual health care entity to discrimination on the basis that the health care entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.”
A 2014 California rule requires all insurance plans to cover abortion.
HHS was acting on complaints from Skyline Wesleyan Church and Missionary Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit, a Catholic order of religious sisters.
California has 30 days to respond. If it doesn’t roll back the requirement, the state could lose federal money, HHS said. Further, “this action may ultimately result in limitations on continued receipt of certain HHS funds,” HHS said in a statement.
“No one in America should be forced to pay for or cover other people’s abortions,” said OCR Director Roger Severino. “We are putting California on notice that it must stop forcing people of good will to subsidize the taking of human life, not only because it’s the moral thing to do, but because it’s the law.”
Alex Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the Trump administration once again was “delivering” on Trump’s “promise to protect human life and all Americans’ freedom of conscience.”
“Under President Trump, HHS has been vigorously enforcing the statutes Congress passed to protect Americans’ consciences and institutionalizing these protections within the department’s civil rights work,” Azar said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, disagreed with the interpretation of the Weldon Amendment.
“Despite a federal opinion four years ago [during the Obama administration] confirming California's compliance with the Weldon Amendment, the Trump Administration would rather rile up its base to score cheap political points and risk access to care for millions than do what's right,” Newsom said. “California will continue to protect a woman's right to choose, and we won't back down from defending reproductive freedom for everybody – full stop.”
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Photo courtesy: Martin Adams/Unsplash
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
