The Biden administration on Wednesday declined to appeal a federal court ruling that stops the government from forcing religious doctors and hospitals to perform controversial gender transition procedures against their conscience and professional medical judgment.
The decision in Sisters of Mercy v. Becerra was the second time a federal appeals court has blocked the administration’s transgender mandate and the second time the administration has chosen not to ask the Supreme Court to review.
According to Becket Law, the rulings mark a victory for compassionate, evidence-based healthcare and protect religious doctors and hospitals across the country from suffering multimillion-dollar penalties for following their religious beliefs, conscience, and informed medical judgment.
It began back in 2016 when the federal government claimed the Affordable Care Act requires doctors and hospitals across the country to perform controversial gender-transition procedures, including on children, even when doing so would violate doctors’ consciences and could harm the patient.
A coalition of Catholic hospitals, a Catholic university, and Catholic nuns who run health clinics for the elderly and poor sued the federal government to stop the mandate, and a federal court agreed that the mandate was unlawful and permanently blocked it from taking effect.
When the Biden Administration appealed that decision, the Eighth Circuit upheld the lower court’s decision.
The government had until June 20 to appeal the Eighth Circuit’s unanimous decision to the Supreme Court, but it allowed the deadline to pass without taking action.
The court’s Dec. 9 ruling was reached based on the conclusion that the transgender mandate would infringe upon federal laws that preserve religious freedom.
“After multiple defeats in court, the federal government has thrown in the towel on its controversial, medically unsupported transgender mandate,” Becket Vice President and Senior Counsel Luke Goodrich said in a press release. “Doctors take a solemn oath to ‘do no harm,’ and they can’t keep that oath if the federal government is forcing them to perform harmful, irreversible procedures against their conscience and medical expertise.”
“These religious doctors and hospitals provide vital care to patients in need, including millions of dollars in free and low-cost care to the elderly, poor, and underserved,” Goodrich added. “This is a win for patients, conscience, and common sense.”
Goodrich tweeted about his law firm’s victory on Wednesday.
“Big news! The Biden Admin has given up any Supreme Court appeal on the transgender mandate, and our victory is complete. It is UNLAWFUL for the feds to force religious doctors to perform gender transitions against conscience and medical judgment,” he wrote.
This case is Becket’s second successful challenge to the transgender mandate. As CBN News reported, in Franciscan Alliance v. Becerra, Becket defended a religious hospital network sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration and the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. Becket won a victory for its clients at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Biden administration also declined to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court.
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