US doctors can now opt out of procedures based on their beliefs

US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday released a final rule allowing doctors, nurses and other health workers to opt out of procedures, such as abortions and sterilisations, that violate their personal or religious beliefs.

The rule, proposed more than a year ago, reinforces a set of 25 laws passed by Congress that protect "conscience rights" in health care, HHS said. Those laws allow health providers and entities to opt out of providing, participating in, paying for or referring for health care services that they have personal or religious objections to, HHS said.

The rule will be effective 60 days from its final publication and enforced by the agency's Office of Civil Rights.

"Finally, laws prohibiting government-funded discrimination against conscience and religious freedom will be enforced like every other civil rights law," Roger Severino, director of HHS's Office of Civil Rights, said in a statement.

"This rule ensures that healthcare entities and professionals won't be bullied out of the health care field because they decline to participate in actions that violate their conscience, including the taking of human life," he said.

Physicians, medical groups and others have warned the rule would erode protections for vulnerable patients in health care, including gay and transgender individuals.

Less worthy of equal treatment?

"This administration shows itself to be determined to use religious liberty to harm communities it deems less worthy of equal treatment under the law," Louise Melling, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

"This rule threatens to prevent people from accessing critical medical care and may endanger people's lives," Melling said.

In April 2018, the American Medical Association wrote to HHS Secretary Alex Azar warning that the rule would further marginalise vulnerable patient populations. The group also said conscience rights for physicians were not unlimited.

President Donald Trump's administration has prioritised expanding religious liberty protections through measures that included an executive order in May 2017. HHS created a new Office of Conscience and Religious Freedom within its Office of Civil Rights more than a year ago, and soon after proposed its conscience rule. 

Trump made the announcement about the regulation Thursday during a speech in the White House Rose Garden to mark the National Day of Prayer.

HHS said the rule will require that hospitals, universities, clinics and other institutions that receive funding from federal programs certify that they comply with some 25 federal laws protecting conscience and religious rights. Most of these laws address medical procedures such as abortion, sterilisation and assisted suicide.