Austin, Texas August 23, 2016
New Obamacare rule requires taxpayers to fund, and doctors to perform, procedures designed to change one’s sex
Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a lawsuit against yet another Obama Administration regulatory overreach that is invading the coffers of Texas, as well as violating the medical judgment and conscience rights of doctors and health care professionals across the country.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services implemented a new rule “interpreting” the definition of “sex” within the Affordable Care Act. As the Obama Administration has attempted to do in other instances, this new rule interprets “sex” as a state of mind, not a biological fact. When it enacted the law, Congress used the term “sex” as a biological category. The Obama Administration is now trying to redefine the law so that the term “sex” means ones’ “internal sense of gender which may be male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female.” But the President does not have the power to rewrite law.
The impact of this new rule on Texas and health care workers is significant. Not only does the rule require taxpayers to fund all treatments designed to transition to a different sex, it also forces health care workers, including physicians, to provide controversial services. Under the new rule, a physician that believes that certain treatments are not in a patient’s best medical interests may be in violation of federal law. And a physician that, for religious or conscientious reasons cannot perform a particular procedure, chooses to instead refer a patient to another health care provider may also be determined to be in violation of this new rule.
“This is the thirteenth lawsuit I have been forced to bring against the Obama Administration’s continued threats on constitutional rights of Texans,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The federal government has no right to force Texans to pay for medical procedures designed to change a person’s sex. I am disappointed in the Obama Administration’s lack of consideration for medical professionals who believe that engaging in such procedures or treatment violates their Hippocratic Oath, their conscience, or their personal religious beliefs, which are protected by the Constitution and federal law.”
To view a copy of the complaint, click here:Paxton_Franciscan_Alliance_et_al_v._Burwell_et_al_-_Complaint_(Filed)
