A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from implementing new regulations that would have allowed health-care providers to discriminate against transgender patients from going into effect. APA strongly opposed the new regulations (PDF, 310KB) because they dismantled civil rights protections in health care, particularly for transgender and gender non-conforming persons, by rolling back Obama-era policies and administrative actions (PDF, 764, KB). Citing a recent landmark Supreme Court decision (PDF, 245, KB) awarding workplace discrimination protection to lesbian, gay transgender and bisexual employees, U S. District Court Judge Frederic Block stopped HHS from implementing the regulations one day before their effective date. “When the Supreme Court announces a major decision, it seems a sensible thing to pause and reflect on the decision’s impact,” the decision states. “Since HHS has been willing to take that path voluntarily, the court now imposes it." The injunction does not stop implementation of the regulation’s provision that would make it permissible for a health-care provider to deny services to women seeking an abortion or to those who have had an abortion. Further, HHS will not be prevented from removing current language access requirements that benefit those with limited English proficiency.
For more information, contact Leo Rennie.