Trump administration puts religious freedom at heart of US health policy

The Trump administration is moving religious freedom to the forefront of its health policies, a move that will likely affect reproductive health, LGBTQ+ healthcare, and vaccine policy. “They are very much putting religious freedom front and center,” said Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Law San Francisco. But “it tends to privilege a conservative form of Christianity and, for example, protect discrimination against LGBTQ people.” The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Sunday it had reorganized its office for civil rights, bringing conscience and religious freedom to the top. And on Friday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a new report on religious liberty that includes multiple references to abortion, vaccines, and gender-affirming care. The reorganized HHS office will require federal agencies, state and local governments, healthcare providers, health plans and others to focus on “protecting the free exercise of religion and conscience and the right to be free from coercion in HHS-conducted or funded programs”, according to the public notice. “This suggests they will use their funding authority to pressure states and local government and private groups,” Reiss said. …