US President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday announced plans to roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender people in the healthcare system, provoking an outcry from rights groups.
The Department of Health and Human Services proposed removing a provision of the Affordable Care Act introduced by former president Barack Obama in 2016 that defined discrimination “on the basis of sex” to include gender identity. “When Congress prohibited sex discrimination, it did so according to the plain meaning of the term, and we are making our regulations conform,” said Roger Severino of the HHS Civil Rights Office.“Nobody should be turned away from medical care, with their health and lives put at risk, because of who they are,” the National Center for Transgender Equality said in a statement.
Louise Melling, deputy legal director with the American Civil Liberties Union, said: “This move by the Trump administration is nothing less than an act of violence against those whose healthcare needs have historically been ignored, neglected and dismissed.”