AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas ordered a halt Saturday to an Obama administration effort to strengthen transgender rights, this time over health rules that social conservatives say could force doctors to violate their religious beliefs.
The injunction signed by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor comes four months after he blocked a federal directive requiring public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Several Republican-controlled states that brought that lawsuit, including Texas, also sued over the health regulations.
Civil rights groups had hailed the new health rules as groundbreaking anti-discrimination protections. The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund said the new U.S. Health and Human Services regulations advised that certain forms of transgender discrimination by doctors, hospitals and insurers violated the Affordable Care Act.
But a coalition of religious medical organizations said the rules could force doctors to help with gender transition contrary to their religious beliefs or medical judgment. O’Connor agreed in his 46-page ruling, saying the rules place “substantial pressure on Plaintiffs to perform and cover transition and abortion procedures.”
Transgender rights advocates say a person would not approach a doctor who lacked suitable experience and expertise.
