Federal Court Backs Catholic Medical Groups on Funding Gender Transition

Until the Left has a chance to re-group, re-strategize, make a sacrifice to Baal, and consult a Ouija board, religious hospitals will not have to pay to facilitate gender surgeries for their employees. At least until the Biden policy wonks come up with a workaround.

On Friday, the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a decision by a lower court that religious hospitals do not have to adhere to the Biden administration mandate to fund transition surgeries. The case was submitted last year and the filing came on Dec. 9, 2022. The plaintiffs in the case were represented by the Becket Fund and were the Religious Sisters of Mercy, Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center (Alma, MI), SMP Health System, University of Mary, Catholic Benefits Association, Diocese of Fargo, Catholic Charities of North Dakota, and the Catholic Medical Association.

The filing named Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Human Services, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Charlotte Burrows, Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as defendants.

According to Bloomberg Law, the court ruled that the interpretation by HHS and the EEOC of the Affordable Care Act’s Section 1557 and Title VII and its application to gender surgery would conflict with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Under the agency’s interpretation, the hospitals would have been mandated to include transgender care in their employee health plans. The government had argued that the groups did not have the standing to make a challenge. But the Becket attorneys countered that the Catholic groups faced a credible threat of sanctions from HHS or the EEOC for violating the mandate. The court affirmed the permanent injunction imposed by the lower court.

National Review quoted Becket Fund attorney Luke Goodrich: ”We now have two different federal courts of appeals saying the Biden administration is permanently blocked from forcing religious doctors and hospitals to perform gender transitions in violation of their conscience.” National Review also noted that the ruling in North Dakota is the second involving this issue. In August, the 5th Circuit Court in Texas also permanently blocked the rule. That case included “Christian medical associations of thousands of doctors who are now protected from federal encroachment into their practices.”

According to Goodrich, the Biden Administration has the option of trying for a re-hearing through the 8th Circuit Court or taking the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court. Goodrich said he does not believe the Administration will try either option.

I agree; they’ll try something completely different. But they’ll come back. They always do.