Headline RoundupApril 19th, 2022

Biden Administration Plans To Rescind Trump's 'Conscience Rule' For Healthcare Workers

Summary from the AllSides News Team

The Biden administration is reportedly planning on rescinding a Trump-era rule that allows healthcare providers to avoid performing abortions or other medical services that conflict with their religious beliefs. 

An anonymous source from the Department of Health and Human Services told Politico (Lean Left bias) that the "rulemaking process" is already underway and that the changes could be proposed in the coming weeks. The HHS unveiled the "conscience rule" in 2018 with the goal of protecting the "fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious liberty," but it was ultimately blocked by federal courts. Abolishing the rule would be a key development in the larger partisan debate over reproductive rights. A number of GOP-led states are passing laws that restrict women from getting abortions, which has led some analysts to believe that Roe v Wade is at risk of being overturned by the Supreme Court

TruthOut (Lean Left bias) critiqued the rule for validating "bigoted" exemptions to restrict health care choices and giving doctors the choice "to turn LGBTQ patients away from their doors altogether." Conversely, The Federalist (Right bias) accentuated supporters of the rule who believe that the conscience rule protects the rights of healthcare workers and eliminating it would be "a gross overreach of executive power." 

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