NEW YORK – While the Biden administration’s recent healthcare-based discrimination regulations don’t include an abortion mandate as the US bishops had feared, they’ve criticised how the regulations advance an “ideological view of sex”.
The Department of Health and Human Services on 26 April published a final rule on non-discrimination provisions – known as Section 1557 – of the Affordable Care Act, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the definition of discrimination on the basis of sex.
The US bishops have long anticipated the change, as they first submitted comments when the changes were proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) back in 2022. At the time, however, the US bishops lamented not only the potential changes to the definition of sex, but that an abortion mandate would eventually be a part of the final rule.
“We appreciate that the final rule does not attempt to impose a mandate with regard to abortion,” <a href="https://diocesefwsb.org/bishop-bio/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Bishop Kevin Rhoades</mark></a> of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee for Religious Liberty, said in a 30 April statement. “These regulations, however, advance an ideological view of sex that, as the Holy See has noted, denies the most beautiful and most powerful difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference.”
“I pray that healthcare workers will embrace the truth about the human person, a truth reflected in Catholic teaching, and that HHS will not substitute its judgment for their own,” Rhoades added.
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, colour, national origin, sex, age or disability in specified programs or activities. The new protections were in place under the administration of President Barack Obama, but rolled back under the administration of President Donald Trump.
The final rule applies to health programs or activities that receive HHS funding, health programs or activities administered by HHS and the health insurance marketplace. Those covered by the rule may include hospitals, health clinics, health insurance insurers, state Medicaid agencies, community health centres, physicians’ practices and home health care agencies.
The final rule honours federal protections for religious freedom and conscience.
Announcing the rule, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra called the changes a giant step forward:
“Today’s rule is a giant step forward for this country toward a more equitable and inclusive health care system, and means that Americans across the country now have a clear way to act on their rights against discrimination when they go to the doctor, talk with their health plan, or engage with health programs run by HHS,” Becerra said in a 26 April statement.
Melanie Fontes, the director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights that specifically issued the rule, said that the rule “exemplifies the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing commitment to health equity and patient rights”.
Responding to the new final rule, the Catholic Health Association, which <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/catholic-medical-community-deeply-concerned-by-joe-bidens-nursing-home-plan/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">includes more than 2,200 Catholic hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities and related organisations</mark></a>, said that while it strongly supports non-discrimination in health care, it highlights that “at the same time, as Catholic health care providers there are certain procedures that may conflict with our sincerely held religious beliefs”.
It added: “The women and men of Catholic healthcare treat all patients with the compassion and dignity they deserve. We look forward to fully reviewing the final rule to understand its impact on patients and providers.”
Rhoades said the Faith’s core beliefs about human dignity are at the core of the USCCB’s stance. His comments follow the Vatican <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/vatican-condemns-gender-theory-in-new-doctrinal-document/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">condemning</mark></a> "gender theory" in its new doctrinal document <em>Dignitas Infinita</em>.
“The human right to health care flows from the sanctity of human life and the dignity that belongs to all human persons, who are made in the image of God,” Rhoades said. “The same core beliefs about human dignity and the wisdom of God’s design that motivate Catholics to care for the sick also shape our convictions about care for pre-born children and the immutable nature of the human person.
“These commitments are inseparable,” Rhoades said.<br><em><br>Photo: Bishop Kevin Rhoades. (Image courtesy <a href="https://diocesefwsb.org/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Diocese of Fort Wayne - South Bend</mark></a>).</em>
