Agency: United States Department of Health and Human Services
Rule status: Final Action Pending
Date of filing: March 3, 2023

This comment, filed on behalf of Senator Coats and Representative Weldon, asks the Department to reject the erroneous reasoning put forth in its 2023 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, “Safeguarding the Rights of Conscience as Protected by Federal Statutes,” 88 Fed. Reg. 820, and to retain the protections enumerated in the 2019 iteration of that rule. This comment comes three years after the Center filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit on behalf of Sen. Coats and Rep. Weldon in New York v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. There, the Center argued in support of the Department’s 2019 rule that gave teeth to various federal conscience protections, including the Coats-Snowe Amendment and the Weldon Amendment. But the Department changed course in 2023, and the new NPRM guts key provisions of the 2019 rule and undercuts the express intent of the Coats-Snowe and Weldon Amendments. Thus, Sen. Coats and Rep. Weldon’s comment asks the Department to apply the laws Congress passed in the way Congress intended.

Filings:
Link to Comment Regarding Safeguarding the Rights of Conscience as Protected by Federal Statutes