A Texas federal district court permanently enjoined enforcing anti-discrimination provisions to compel health care providers to act against their conscience.
by Massimo Introvigne
On August 9, 2021, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Wichita Falls Division, on remand from the 5th Circuit, rendered an important decision, where it stated that provisions of the Affordable Care Act and anti-discrimination laws cannot be enforced against Christian health care providers that refuse to perform abortions or gender transition procedures.
The Affordable Care Act (so-called Obamacare), as promulgated by the Obama administration, had been interpreted to the effect that there was no religious exception allowing certain health care providers to refuse to provide abortion or gender transition services. Courts all over the United States decided repeatedly that these provisions were incompatible with religious liberty, until in 2020 during the Trump administration the Act was amended to allow for a religious exception. Meanwhile, led by the Franciscan Alliance, a number of Christian plaintiffs had sued the U.S. Department of Health in Texas.
The U.S. District Court has rejected the argument that the 2020 amendments to the law have solved the problem, noting that the Biden administration has announced that anti-discrimination provisions will be strictly enforced, although within the limits set by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Court also found that compelling Christian doctors, health care providers, or insurance plans to finance, organize or perform both abortions and gender transition procedures “substantially burdens” the constitutionally protected “Christian Plaintiffs’ religious exercise.”
Irrespective of different policies by different administrations, the Court has now permanently enjoined the Ministry of Health and its divisions and bureaus “from interpreting or enforcing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, 42 U.S.C. § 18116(a), or any implementing regulations thereto against Plaintiffs, their current and future members, and those acting in concert or participation with them, including their respective health plans and any insurers or third-party administrators in connection with such health plans, in a manner that would require them to perform or provide insurance coverage for gender-transition procedures or abortions, including by denying Federal financial assistance because of their failure to perform or provide insurance coverage for such procedures or by otherwise pursuing, charging, or assessing any penalties, fines, assessments, investigations, or other enforcement actions.”
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
