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US: Human Rights Watch Letter to US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar

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Secretary Alex Azar
Department of Health and Human Services
Hubert H. Humphrey Building
200 Independence Avenue SW., Room 445-G
Washington, DC 20201

RE: Proposed Rule on Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority

Dear Secretary Azar,

Human Rights Watch opposes the Proposed Rule on Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority (83 Fed. Reg. 3880). The proposed rule would dramatically expand the discretion that religious or moral objectors have to refuse care in healthcare settings without any meaningful safeguards to ensure that the rights and health of others are protected. The rule would function not only as a shield for people asserting objections on religious or moral grounds but also as a sword that permits them to withhold care from women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people; and others.

The proposed rule fails to appreciate the significant barriers that women, LGBT people, and others already face when attempting to access health care that meets their needs, and the likelihood that the rule would exacerbate those barriers and prevent people from accessing care. The rule codifies vague, open-ended definitions that would permit unfettered discrimination in healthcare settings. And it breaks from a long tradition of religious or moral exemptions under domestic and international law by providing blanket protection for religious exercise without any mechanism to ensure that the rights and health of others are not jeopardized as a result.

  1. Women and LGBT People Already Face Barriers to Care

Under Executive Order 13563, the Department of Health and Human Services may only propose a rule where it has made a reasoned determination that the rule’s benefits outweigh its costs and it is tailored to impose “the least burden on society.”[1] However, the proposed rule fails to incorporate an understanding of the barriers that women and LGBT people already face in accessing care and the ways in which the proposed rule could exacerbate health disparities.


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