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WASHINGTON, D.C., January 18, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established today a new division within HHS’s civil rights office to enforce conscience protection and religious freedom for healthcare workers.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the creation of the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) this morning.
The new division will enforce “laws and regulations that protect conscience and prohibit coercion on issues such as abortion and assisted suicide” and others in HHS-funded or conducted programs,” according to the OCR website. It will also enforce statutes protecting “the free exercise of religion and prohibit discrimination” in HHS programs.
The new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division signals an important change for the OCR, which also oversees enforcement of laws concerning security and privacy of people’s health information. It brings back to the forefront enforcement of conscience and religious liberty laws in the healthcare field, an about-face from the stance of the Obama Administration.
“With the creation of this new division, you do not need to shed your moral convictions to be part of the public square,” the Director of the Office for Civil
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