The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is set to reestablish a civil rights division focused on religious liberty and conscience protections that was initially created during President Donald Trump's first administration.
The move, announced May 18, restructures HHS' Office of Civil Rights (OCR) with three divisions: the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, the Civil Rights Division, and the Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division.
"This reorganization … strengthens the [OCR's] ability to defend religious liberty, enforce conscience protections, and combat unlawful discrimination," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
"Under President Trump's leadership, HHS will defend these rights with clarity, accountability, and resolve," he said.
During Trump's first administration in 2018, HHS established the office, but it was dissolved in 2023 under former President Joe Biden's administration. According to an HHS news release, the restoration is meant to ensure HHS can better prioritize religious freedom and conscience rights enforcement.
According to the news release, the restoration is meant to build on Trump's stated effort to eradicate "anti-Christian bias."
On April 30, the Department of Justice issued a report on eradicating anti-Christian bias, which accused HHS under previous leadership of imposing rules for providers to offer what it called "gender-affirming care for minors." The report stated that providers interpreted the rules as having "limited or no religious exemptions," as exemptions were reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Under Biden, HHS also removed some conscience protections for doctors and interpreted the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) as imposing a requirement on hospitals and emergency rooms to offer abortion in "emergency" situations, which prompted lawsuits by Catholic organizations.
"This reorganization reinstitutes a structure that rightly prioritizes civil rights and conscience and religious freedom alongside health information privacy and security," HHS OCR Director Paula M. Stannard said in a statement. "All three areas are deserving of subject-matter expertise and distinct senior executive leadership for OCR to best serve the American people."
In March, HHS's OCR launched investigations into 13 states for allegedly violating federal conscience protections for those who hold moral or religious objections to abortion.
