On Wednesday, Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is warning retail pharmacies against denying patients abortion-inducing medication, saying this would violate anti-discrimination laws by withholding healthcare from pregnant people.
This warning from Biden’s regime roughly involves 60,000 U.S. retail pharmacies that come days after Joe Biden signed an executive order easing access to services to terminate pregnancies after the U.S. Supreme Court last month overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that made abortions legal nationwide.
HHS said that pharmacies and pharmacists would run afoul of pregnancy and disability discrimination laws for refusing to disburse drugs that could be used to terminate a pregnancy, including those used for medication abortion, and emergency contraceptives.
Here’s what HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement:
“We are committed to ensuring that everyone can access healthcare, free of discrimination. This includes access to prescription medications for reproductive health and other types of care.”
The guidance does not reflect new policy, but merely reminds pharmacies of their existing obligations under federal law, the health department said.
The guidance reads:
“The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS or Department) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for protecting the rights of women and pregnant people in their ability to access care that is free from discrimination. This includes their ability to access reproductive health care, including prescription medication from their pharmacy, free from discrimination.”
More details of this report from The Gateway Pundit:
The HHS document lists alleged discriminations according to these laws, including refusing to give a patient plan B after a sexual assault. It also refers to pregnancy at one point as the “growing of cells.”
Notably, the guidance uses the phrase “may be discriminating of the basis of sex.” The statement follows each example of refusing medications related to abortion. It is clear that Biden’s leadership is unsure of its ability to uphold any form of a civil rights violation.
The guidance also takes aim at religious beliefs, pointing to the Church Amendments, which have allowed providers to refuse specific procedures or services based on religious beliefs.
The guidance does not contradict but states that it will evaluate the impact of religious exemptions. It says, “This guidance does not address how the Church Amendments would apply in a given case. OCR will evaluate and apply the Church Amendments on a case-by-case basis.”
As part of this latest announcement, HHS outlined the steps the Biden administration has taken since the overturning of Roe v. Wade to protect abortion access, including launching ReproductiveRights.gov and announcing $3 million in new funding to train “family planning providers.”
While America is in the middle of a crisis and record-breaking inflation, Democrat lawmakers have been prioritizing abortion issues above else.
In fact, Reuters polling shows that protecting abortion rights is a top issue for women Democrats, and more than 70% of Americans think the issue should be left to a woman and her doctor.
On Wednesday, 83 Democratic lawmakers called on Biden and Becerra in a letter to declare a public health emergency.
Source: TheGatewayPundit