NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly two dozen states, including Wisconsin, and municipalities are suing the federal government to stop a new rule letting health care clinicians object to providing abortions and other services that conflict with their moral or religious beliefs.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, said in a news release Tuesday that the federal government shouldn't make it more difficult for patients to access care.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court asks a judge to block a rule by the Department of Health and Human Services that is scheduled to take effect in July.
The department has said the rule requires hospitals, universities, clinics and other entities that receive federal funding to certify compliance with some 25 federal laws protecting conscience and religious rights.
Most laws pertain to medical procedures such as abortion, sterilization and assisted suicide.
The suit is being brought by Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; the District of Columbia; Hawaii; Chicago, Cook County and the state of Illinois; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Nevada; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York City and state; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Vermont; Virginia; and Wisconsin.
A spokesman for federal government lawyers declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The city of San Francisco sued over the regulation May 2, hours after President Donald Trump announced it during a White House Rose Garden speech marking the National Day of Prayer.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said the new lawsuit is meant to stop the federal government from "giving health care providers free license to openly discriminate and refuse care to patients."
She called it a "gross misinterpretation of religious freedom that will have devastating consequences on communities throughout the country."
According to the lawsuit, the rule drastically expands the number of health providers who can refuse to provide services, allowing everyone from ambulance drivers to receptionists and customer service representatives at insurance companies to cite the rule.
The lawsuit said the rule conflicts with various state laws requiring health care professionals to carry out certain actions even if they cannot comply with some health care directives for reasons of conscience.
