WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new rule today that would dramatically expand the ability of health care institutions and workers to refuse to provide medical care. The rule was introduced one day after the agency announced its creation of a “Division of Conscience and Religious Freedom.”



Louise Melling, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, had the following reaction:



“This is an administration that time and again works to endanger the ability of patients to get the health care they need. With this rule, the administration shows its true colors — it believes religious freedom means the right to discriminate and to harm. It puts patients last — a betrayal of the mission of the Department of Health and Human Services.”