Washington (CNN) New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration, arguing that a new regulation would let health care providers discriminate and refuse care to patients based on religious or moral beliefs.

news release sent by James' office says she is leading a coalition of 23 states, cities and municipalities suing to block a Department of Health and Human Services rule that would allow "businesses, including employers, to object to providing insurance coverage for procedures they consider objectionable, and allow individual health care personnel to object to informing patients about their medical options or referring them to providers of those options."

"The federal government is giving health care providers free license to openly discriminate and refuse care to patients -- a gross misinterpretation of religious freedom that will have devastating consequences on communities throughout the country," James said in the release.

"When the health of our residents is at stake, and the safety of vulnerable populations hang in the balance, we cannot rest until this 'health care refusal' rule is stopped," James added.

The lawsuit alleges the federal government could terminate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal health care funding if states or cities fail to comply with this rule. Public health programs that could be impacted, according to the release, include Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, HIV/AIDS and STD prevention and education, and mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Read More