Last week, the American College of Pediatricians, the Catholic Medical Association and an individual physician filed suit in a Tennessee federal district court challenging as a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as well as of free speech and freedom of association protections, rules and interpretations of the Affordable Care Act that prohibit discrimination by medical providers on the basis of gender identity. The Obama Administration originally adopted the prohibition; the Trump Administration reversed the prohibition; and the Biden Administration returned to the discrimination ban. In the meantime, challenges proceeded through the courts. Now, the complaint (full text) in American College of Pediatricians v. Becerra, (ED TN, filed 8/26/2021), alleges in part:
Two courts have already recognized that this mandate is illegal and enjoined it in favor of plaintiffs in those cases. Franciscan Alliance, Inc. v. Becerra...; Religious Sisters of Mercy v. Azar.... But both injunctions protect only the plaintiffs in those cases, not the plaintiffs or their members here.
ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
