[from AMA Morning Rounds]

The Washington Post (5/2, Cha, Bailey) reports that on Thursday, “President Trump announced a new rule allowing health providers, insurers and employers to refuse to provide or pay for services such as abortion, sterilization or assisted suicide that they say violate their religious beliefs.” Conservatives welcomed these necessary “protections,” but “LGBT and women’s groups warned the rule would lead to discrimination and drastically reduced services since providers might refuse to perform certain treatments, or to treat gay and transgender people.” The final “rule expands the powers of HHS’ Office for Civil Rights – requiring health-care entities to maintain records and report and cooperate with OCR requests.”

The AP (5/2, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports that the rule “requires hospitals, universities, clinics and other institutions that receive funding from federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid to certify that they comply with some 25 federal laws protecting conscience and religious rights.”