The Trump administration is working on a rule that would give healthcare providers the option to decline performing certain procedures out of moral and or religious reasons.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Department of Health and Human Services sent a proposal of the plan to the White House last week. On Wednesday, HHS confirmed it will form a division of "conscience and religious freedoms," which will fall under its Office for Civil Rights.
"We want to provide justice to victims of unlawful discrimination and coercion," said Roger Severino, who heads the Office for Civil Rights, according to the Journal.
Severino added that nurses, for example, should not have to participate in abortions or provide abortion referrals if they choose not to.
Republicans have tried to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood, whose list of services includes abortions, to no avail. In recent years, court cases involving business owners who refused to provide goods and services for gay weddings have divided Supreme Court justices on the issue.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America vice president Dana Singiser told the Journal the Trump administration's move is political.
"For the past year, the Trump-Pence administration has been working to infringe on our freedoms and taking away the rights of people of color, LGBTQ people, and women," she said.
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