On Tuesday, a federal Judge overturned patient protections put into place by Obama’s transgender policy. The judge ruled that the 2016 policy went on to actively violate the religious freedom of providers who were Christian.
Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas effectively overruled the ObamaCare protections that used to prohibit medical providers and insurers who were in receipt of federal grants from denying treatment or coverage to anyone on the basis of gender identity, sex, or termination of pregnancy.
The protections also required hospitals and doctors to provide the same level of “medically necessary” services to individuals belonging to the transgender community as long as those services were being provided to other patients.
O’Connor who claimed the Obama-era rule to violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is the same judge who ruled the entire Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional last year.
However, the ruling is most likely to be appealed.
In 2016, the Franciscan Alliance along with five conservative states challenged the ObamaCare rule initially. They argued the rule compelled doctors to perform gender transition procedures and forced insurers to pay for abortions even when it disagreed with their moral and rational standing.
