The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) unveiled a new division Thursday to help ensure healthcare workers can do their jobs without being forced to violate their faith.
The new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division falls under the Office for Civil Rights. Federal statutes protect freedom of conscience and religion but have lacked enforcement over the years. This new wing of HHS seeks to preserve the rights of Americans who do not want to participate in abortion, assisted suicide, or other practices that violate their religious convictions.
“Laws protecting religious freedom and conscience rights are just empty words on paper if they aren’t enforced,” said Office for Civil Rights director Roger Severino.
HHS logged 10 complaints regarding religious freedom violations between 2008 and November 2016, Severino told reporters Wednesday. Since President Donald Trump’s election, the department recorded 34 complaints to the Office of Civil Rights as more and more healthcare workers feel coerced.
“No one should be forced to choose between helping sick people and living by one’s deepest moral or religious convictions, and the new division will help guarantee that victims of unlawful discrimination find justice,” Severino said.
Former HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned in September and the Senate has yet to confirm Trump’s chosen…
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