Roger Severino, director of HHS' Office for Civil Rights, has taken it upon himself to protect the religious rights of healthcare workers after experiencing religious discrimination in his own life, according to The Hill.
Mr. Severino told The Hill that during his career in government, he has faced more discrimination due to his conservative political views and religion than for his South American heritage. For example, while working at the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Office, Mr. Severino claimed his supervisor told him, "I thought we were done hiring people like you."
Mr. Severino has created a new division within OCR dedicated to enforcing laws that allow healthcare workers to decline performing certain procedures on religious grounds.
"Nurses and doctors who dedicate their careers to saving lives should not be coerced into helping take lives in abortion or assisted suicide," Mr. Severino told The Hill. "This is and shouldn't be a controversial position."
The emphasis of religious freedom has drawn praise from conservative advocates and ire from liberal groups. Last year, Mr. Severino encouraged the passage of an HHS rule that would offer exceptions for the ACA's contraception mandate for organizations that have religious exemptions to birth control.
"Religious liberty is a fundamental American value, but religion should not permit a person to cause harm to others or subvert the rights of others," Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Bobby Scott, D-Va., wrote in response to Mr. Severino's proposal. "Women, minorities, members of the LGBTQ community, and other marginalized groups already face widespread discrimination in our healthcare system and this policy would only make this worse by offering an extensive group of individuals and entities a license to discriminate."
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