Biden Administration Challenges Religious Freedom of Health Workers

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has undone religious liberty protections put in place by the Trump administration.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) authorized faith-based waivers for health workers under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a law passed under the Clinton Administration that strengthened religious liberty protections against federal infringements. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra revoked the OCR’s authority to enforce such exemptions and to ensure compliance with RFRA.

Faith-based organizations affected by Becerra’s action include foster care agencies that have declined to work with same-sex couples. In a press release announcing the move, HHS specified that it was overturning “inappropriate and unnecessary” waivers issued to South Carolina, Texas, and Michigan and said its action aimed to “prevent discrimination and strengthen civil rights.”

The HHS action applies to groups that receive funding from the federal government.

Protection Flip-Flop

Becerra promised during his confirmation hearing to protect religious liberty; however, his policy direction has been criticized by religious liberty advocates, including Roger Severino,  OCR director in the Trump administration and current Ethics and Public Policy Center senior fellow, who accused Becerra of breaking his pledge.

The OCR under Severino twice found California attorney general Becerra was in violation of federal conscience laws. During his time in that position, Becerra sued the Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious order of nuns that runs homes for the elderly, for non-compliance with the Obamacare contraception mandate.

“Since day one, the Biden-Becerra HHS has been systematically rolling back health care conscience and religious freedom protections and refusing to enforce the law,” Rachel N. Morrison, an HHS accountability fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told Health Care News.

“In the last year, Becerra undermined HHS’s Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, ‘redetermined’ multiple violations of federal conscience laws, revoked several states’ religious exemptions, and removed the authority of the expert career professionals in OCR to enforce RFRA,” Morrison said. “Becerra claims HHS will enforce laws protecting conscience and religious freedom, but actions speak louder than words.”

‘Cannot Be Taken Lightly’

The consequences of infringing on religious liberty have already become apparent, says Mark B. Blocher, president, and CEO of Christian Healthcare Centers.

“People are already being forced to quit, and this has created its own set of adverse consequences for individuals, and the organizations that imposed HHS rules on them,” Blocher said.

Blocher says to expect legal challenges to the HHS policy. “Religious freedom is not a right that can be taken lightly,” Blocher said.

While religious liberty advocates are often thought of as Christian conservatives, the issue affects everyone, says Blocher.

“Health care workers of all religions have encountered infringement on the free exercise of their faith in the health care setting,” said Blocher. “The free exercise clause of the First Amendment does not privilege Christians over other religions. It applies to all faiths and is intended to protect the liberty of religious individuals by placing a high burden on the State when it believes it has a compelling reason to do so.”

‘Founders Warned Us’

The loss of the religious freedom enshrined in the First Amendment is a consequence of “big government that has lost its mission to ‘serve’ the public; to govern by consent of the governed,” said Blocher.

“Rather, we are witnessing the emergence of a government largely run by unelected officials who see themselves as rulers, not public servants,” said Blocher. “This is the government our Founders warned us about.”

The government we have today is dangerous and out of control, says Blocher.

“When a government can impose mandates, rules, etc., that strip citizens of their basic civil rights, their right to work in a profession for which they have been trained, and can unilaterally suspend explicit rights found in the Bill of Rights and Constitution as we have seen with COVID -19, that government is itself a threat to the free market and a threat to freedom itself,” said Blocher.