Catholic bishop says Biden admin. advancing 'ideological view of sex'
A leader from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has accused the Biden administration of advancing an "ideological view of sex," condemning a forthcoming rule that could require faith-based healthcare providers to perform or provide surgical or hormonal transgender interventions.
In a statement Tuesday, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend reacted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' announced changes to the interpretation of the nondiscrimination protections in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
The changes amend the definition of sex discrimination law also to encompass "sexual orientation" and "gender identity."
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Rhoades, who chairs the USCCB's Committee for Religious Liberty, warns that the amended rule promotes an ideology that is at odds with reality.
"Health care that truly heals must be grounded in truth," he said.
Additionally, Rhoades asserted that the new rule advances "an ideological view of sex that, as the Holy See has noted, denies the most beautiful and most powerful difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference."
The bishop hopes that "health care workers will embrace the truth about the human person, a truth reflected in Catholic teaching, and that HHS will not substitute its judgment for their own."
"The human right to health care flows from the sanctity of human life and the dignity and the wisdom of God's design that motivate Catholics to care for the sick also shape our convictions about care for preborn children and the immutable nature of the human person," Rhodes wrote. "These commitments are inseparable."
USCCB argues that by including sexual orientation and gender identity into the definition of "sex," the regulations will force "health care workers to perform 'gender transition' procedures in the name of nondiscrimination."
"At the same time, the regulations make modest improvements to the proposed regulations' protections for the exercise of conscience, religious belief, and clinical judgment," the USCCB statement adds.
While the rule is not scheduled to go into effect until early summer, it has been in the works since July 2022.
Earlier this year, in its report titled "The State of Religious Liberty in the United States," the USCCB's Committee on Religious Liberty elaborated on the implications of the proposed changes to Section 1557 for healthcare providers who have deeply held beliefs about gender and sexuality.
"It would be considered discrimination for a health care worker to categorically object to performing gender transition procedures, regardless of whether that objection is a matter of religious belief or clinical judgment," the report stated. "The proposed regulations would also require most health insurance issuers to cover gender transition procedures, so the regulations may make it difficult for religious organizations as employers to find companies who will provide insurance coverage that is consistent with their religious beliefs."
The regulation declares that "a covered entity" that provides health insurance under the Affordable Care Act cannot "deny or limit health services sought for purpose of gender transition or other gender-affirming care that the covered entity would provide to an individual for other purposes if the denial or limitation is based on an individual's sex assigned at birth, gender identity, or gender otherwise recorded."
Luke Goodrich of the religious liberty legal group Becket claimed that to avoid charges of discrimination, "doctors who offer hormones for menopause, or mastectomies for breast cancer, must do the same for girls who want to look like boys."
He predicted that the new rule would attract lawsuits, recalling how a similar rule from the Obama administration was blocked by federal courts twice.
"Prior courts ruled it would violate religious freedom to force doctors to perform transitions that would violate their consciences and could harm patients," Goodrich stated.
The USCCB called the proposed changes to Section 1557 the second biggest threat to religious liberty in 2024, behind only the prospect of continued attacks on houses of worship.
"Despite lip service paid to concerns of religious liberty, it appears to be specifically intended to force Catholic hospitals and religious health care providers to perform gender transition procedures, including on children," the USCCB Committee on Religious Liberty stated in its 2024 religious freedom report. "Among the various federal regulations advancing gender ideology, its harms are the most severe."
The committee contends that the rule "would undoubtedly exert a major chilling effect on the exercise of faith and conscience in health care, and would mark a regrettable entrenchment against the clear protections of the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act."
Last month, the Vatican released a document teaching that "all attempts to obscure reference to ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected" because "we cannot separate the masculine and the feminine from God's work of creation, which is prior to all our decisions and experiences, and where biological elements exist which are impossible to ignore."
The Holy See also insisted that "any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception."
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
