Several civil rights groups sued the Trump administration May 28, alleging the "conscience protection" rule, which will allow healthcare workers to deny care based on religious beliefs, is unconstitutional, The Hill reports.
The rule, which takes effect July 22, is an extension of President Donald Trump's May 2017 executive order to provide more protections for religious freedom. It aims to protect the religious beliefs of healthcare workers.
It faces a growing number of lawsuits. The May 28 lawsuit was filed by Lambda Legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Center for Reproductive Rights in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The groups allege the conscience protection rule is dangerous for patients and "infringes the constitutional rights of patients by impermissibly advancing the religious beliefs of individual employees over the constitutional rights of patients, including patients' rights to liberty and privacy guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment," The Hill reports.
A similar lawsuit was filed May 2 by the city of San Francisco, and others were filed by groups under New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, both Democrats.
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