U.S. District Court Judge Peter Welte of North Dakota issued a ruling Tuesday, Jan. 19, prohibiting the U.S. Department of health (HHS) and the Fair Employment Commission (EEOC) from forcing surgeons and some religious health care providers to perform sex reassignment surgery under ObamaCare.
According to the Epoch Times website, Welter said in the ruling that Catholic medical institutions and certain faith-based medical personnel who refuse to perform sex reassignment surgery are exercising their right to freedom of religion protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. But ObamaCare forced them to undergo sex reassignment surgery for political purposes, so the court issued an injunction to protect the freedom of belief of those religious institution personnel.
He wrote, “Without an injunction, plaintiffs may be forced to engage in sex reassignment surgery contrary to their religious beliefs, or may suffer severe financial losses as a result of refusing to perform such surgery.”
Luke Goodrich, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, welcomed the ruling by Welter. He called the doctors who refused to implement ObamaCare out of their own convictions “true heroes” and said the court’s ruling gives the doctors the power to act according to their conscience without government interference for political purposes.
These faith-based doctors and hospitals provide top-notch medical care to all patients,” Goodrich wrote in the statement. All they are asking for is to be able to perform procedures that serve their patients as usual, not to be forced to perform controversial, medically unrecognized procedures that go against their beliefs and could harm their patients.”
The U.S. Department of Health issued a decree in 2016 during Obama’s term that prohibits insurance companies or third parties from denying treatment options for gender reassignment surgery, as well as health insurance providers from denying medical care for gender reassignment surgery, even if it comes from religious beliefs, the report said. However, the Department of Health will also consider whether to receive an exemption under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on a case-by-case basis.
The state of North Dakota and a Catholic university and Catholic health care provider have therefore taken the Department of Health’s decision to court under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. However, a federal judge in North Dakota put the case on hold, and in 2019, a federal court in Texas denied the Catholic institution’s request.
The Department of Health during the Trump administration had withdrawn this provision, but the practice was resisted by several U.S. district courts.
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