A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the Biden administration cannot redefine sex-based discrimination in statutes to force doctors to perform gender-transition procedures against their will.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk found that the administration exceeded the limits of the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare by including sexual orientation and gender identity among the laws’ anti-discrimination protections.
He ruled that a landmark 2020 US Supreme Court workplace discrimination decision that protects LGBT employees does not apply to the healthcare law.
He found that when adopting the Affordable Care Act in 2010 the US Congress could have included sexual orientation and gender identity in protected categories, but chose not to do so.
He was hearing a class action from two doctors who sued the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over its interpretation of the Affordable Care Act which bars healthcare providers from discriminating on the basis of sex as extending to sexual orientation and gender identity.
The judge found HHS wrongly interpreted that section of the law.
He ruled that doctors who object to performing gender reassignment surgery and similar procedures don’t have to perform them.
The judge said the interpretation could only changed by the US Congress amending the law or the US Supreme Court overruling his decision.
Worthy News reports some states have already outlawed gender transitions for minors.
