It’s been a regressive start to the year for the Department of Health and Human Services, which under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has, in no way, done health or humans any services. In January alone, the department froze $10 billion in childcare funding in five states led by Democrats, slashed addiction and mental health treatment program budgets, and needlessly flipped the food pyramid.
But the latest attack against health and humans came on Wednesday, when HHS’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR) gave Illinois a thuggish warning to either get rid of a law that protects abortion access and requires medical providers to… do their job, or risk losing federal funding.
In OCR’s Notice of Violation, which spans 10 pages, HHS accuses Illinois’ Health Care Right of Conscience Act (SB1564) of violating federal healthcare conscience laws—and gives the state 30 days to comply. The amendment, passed in 2015 by a 34-19 Senate vote and supported by 80% of voters, requires healthcare workers to refer patients for abortion services, no matter their personal beliefs. Note that it doesn’t require a doctor to perform abortion care; it just requires them to give their patient information if they ask.
“Illinois forces providers with conscience objections to refer patients for abortion—compelling them to participate in the very procedure they oppose,” OCR Director Paula M. Stannard said in a statement accompanying the notice. “Under President Trump’s and Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, OCR will continue to protect federal conscience rights and the dignity of human life.” Ugh.
At the time, the ACLU deemed the law “critical legislation,” writing that it “carefully balances the need of patients to get full and complete information about their medical condition with the right of health care providers to refuse services and care to which they have a religious or moral objection.”
The notice states that SB1564 goes against both the Weldon Amendment—which allows HHS to stop its funds from going to state or local governments that “discriminate” against certain health insurance plans, and the Coats-Snowe Amendment—which protects medical providers from punishment if they refuse to provide, or even attend courses on giving abortion treatments. Both have been widely used by anti-abortion policymakers in states like California, Hawaii, and New York to undermine abortion access.
The Washington Post, which first reported on the notice, writes:
The action is the Trump administration’s latest signal it’s willing to use federal funding as a cudgel to advance its priorities. The administration is under heavy pressure to further restrict abortion by antiabortion activists, who are gathering Friday for their annual March for Life and have been critical of the administration’s handling of the issue.
Illinois receives about $20 billion in Medicaid each year, and per KFF, nearly 3 million people are enrolled in its services. To take any of that away would be nothing short of cruel—though cruel seems to be the defining word of the Trump administration, particularly when it comes to limiting access to essential healthcare.
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