Trump Announces Finalized “Conscience Protections” For Health Care Providers Who Refuse LGBT Patients

The Washington Post reports:

President Trump on Thursday announced new ‘conscience’ protections for health providers during a speech in front of faith leaders gathered for the National Day of Prayer.

Ahead of the announcement, conservative groups who have raised what they perceive as religious liberty concerns have welcomed the rule, which was first proposed last year, while LGBT and other civil liberties groups fear it could lead to discrimination and lack of services for some groups as doctors and others could decline to treat gay and transgender people.

The rule expands on the powers of HHS’s Office for Civil Rights — requiring health care entities to maintain records and report and cooperate with OCR requests. “Finally, laws prohibiting government funded discrimination against conscience and religious freedom will be enforced like every other civil rights law,” OCR Director Roger Severino said in a release.

Severino previously worked for two viciously anti-LGBT hate groups: the Becket Fund and the Heritage Foundation.