San Francisco, Calif., Nov 20, 2019 / 14:00 pm
A third federal judge has struck down the Trump administration's conscience protection rule for medical professionals who object to abortions because of their religious beliefs.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled on Tuesday, Nov. 19, that the Department of Health and Human Services rule, "Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority," was too broad and would have permitted medical professionals that were not doctors or nurses, such as ambulance drivers and receptionists, to refuse to do their jobs if they involved abortion.
Alsup, ruling for the District Court for Nothern California, is the third judge to block the rule. In early November, federal judges in Washington state and New York also moved to strike the rule.
"An ambulance driver would be free, on religious or moral grounds, to eject a patient en route to a hospital upon learning that the patient needed an emergency abortion," said Alsup in his ruling. Alsup sits on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.