States file another lawsuit over Obama transgender rules

Under the Obamacare rule, health providers can not refuse care to transgender patients that is typically offered, but the government didn’t specify what medications or procedures should be included. The White House administration interprets the word “sex” as used in Title IX to mean so-called “gender identity” instead of its previously understood meaning of biological sex.

Paxton, who took office past year, said it’s the 13th lawsuit he’s been “forced to bring against the Obama Administration’s continued threats on constitutional rights of Texans”.

The latest lawsuit contends that the rules, which were finalized in May, could force doctors to help with gender transition contrary to their religious beliefs or medical judgment. Now they’re asking that same court to block new regulations meant to ban discrimination by doctors, hospitals and insurers against transgender persons.

Joining Texas in the lawsuit are Wisconsin, Kentucky, Nebraska and Kansas, along with the Christian Medical and Dental Association and Franciscan Alliance, an Indiana-based network of religious hospitals.

But, as HHS has already said, it didn’t include a blanket exemption for religious freedom because other federal rules already protect the religious rights of physicians, including “provider conscience laws, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), provisions in the ACA related to abortion services, or regulations issued under the ACA related to preventive health services, “HHS wrote in its explainer of the new rule”.

“It can not be disputed that the plain meaning of the term sex as used. following passage of Title IX meant the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth”, O’Connor writes.

Young people in America overwhelmingly support LGBT rights when it comes to policies on employment, health care and adoption, according to a new survey.

The state law’s opponents, however, said the Texas decision doesn’t trump a ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, whose decision supporting a transgender student’s bathroom choice in Virginia sets a precedent for the Carolinas as well.

Transgender rights have become a growing legal battleground, with struggles emerging about whether to add gender identity and expression to anti-discrimination policies and whether to adopt policies accommodating transgender individuals in areas such as bathroom use. Specifically, the rules, the lawsuit alleges, will require the groups “to provide insurance coverage for services that violate [their] religious beliefs”.

Similar questions have arisen in the context of same-sex marriage and of providing contraceptives. The number was up to 418 previous year, from none in 2002, according to federal health officials. Medicare began covering medically necessary sex-reassignment surgery in 2014. News stories displayed here appear in our category for Health and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization.