Religious health care providers win injunction on ACA rules

By PETER SMITH
Associated Press

A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction on behalf of religious health care providers who feared the Biden administration would interpret the Affordable Care Act as requiring them to perform abortions or gender-transition treatment against their conscience. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had argued that it doesn’t require religious providers to offer such procedures. But U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor interpreted HHS regulations as forcing the plaintiffs — a Catholic hospital system and a national association of Christian medical professionals — to choose between their beliefs and their livelihood.