By Bob Katzen

Attorney General Maura Healey today joined a coalition of 23 states, cities and counties in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its new rule granting health care providers the authority to deny medically necessary treatments, services and information on the basis of religious or moral views.

“Access to medically accurate and necessary health care is a basic civil right,” Healey said. “Providers should not be able to use their personal beliefs as an excuse to deny needed care. We are suing to protect the lives and health of our residents.”

“The rule opens the door for a physician and other practitioners to bring his or her bias into a patient encounter and justify denial of care based on the patient’s racial identification, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, disability, immigration status, or economic status,” said Dr. Maryanne Bombaugh, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

“Healey’s lawsuit has more to do with political posturing than legal redress,” said Catholic Action League Executive Director C.J. Doyle. “The attorney general knows fully well that in 1991 the U. S. Supreme Court, in Rust v. Sullivan, upheld the right of the Reagan Administration to enact the very same compliance integrity measures now prescribed by the Trump Administration.”

“For Healey, it is also about serving a powerful special interest which has advanced her career in elective office,” continued Doyle. “As Maura Healey was endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts in both 2014 and 2018, it is unsurprising that she would seek to block the Trump Administration from withdrawing tens of millions of taxpayer dollars from an organization whose support for her candidacy she described as a game changer for our campaign.”