A federal court struck down the Biden Administration’s order that doctors must perform transgender surgeries despite their religious beliefs
A Biden Administration-backed mandate which required doctors nationwide to perform gender-transition surgeries on transgender patients, regardless of the doctors’ own religious beliefs, was struck down on Friday by a federal appeals court.
From the Epoch Times:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling in Franciscan Alliance v. Becerra, which protected around 19,000 health care professionals in Franciscan Alliance, a Catholic health care network, from performing medical procedures against their conscience.
The lower court’s ruling had permanently prohibited the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) “from requiring Franciscan Alliance to perform gender-transition surgeries or abortions in violation of its sincerely held religious beliefs.”
The ruling will prevent doctors from having to perform transgender surgeries if it is against their religious beliefs.
“This ruling is a major victory for conscience rights and compassionate medical care in America,” said Joseph Davis, counsel at Becket, in a statement. “Doctors cannot do their jobs and comply with the Hippocratic Oath if the government requires them to perform harmful, irreversible procedures against their conscience and medical expertise.”
Apparently, the Biden Administration was hampered by their own co-appellant, the American Civil Liberties Union. The court noted that the Biden Admin wished to have additional chances to prove why religious healthcare providers performing transgender surgeries was a necessity, but that the ACLU cited an older case which damaged the Biden Administration’s argument.
Forcing religious individuals to go against their religious beliefs in order to perform procedures such as gender-transition-oriented surgeries, or abortion, is a clear violation of religious freedom. It is the government trampling on faith and religion and is unconstitutional. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals made a commonsense decision in striking down this ruling.
