WASHINGTON — National Right to Life today praised comprehensive enforcement and policy actions announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to protect health care provider conscience rights and affirm the dignity of human life, consistent with long-standing federal law and the Hyde Amendment.

Among the actions announced, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Notice of Violation to the State of Illinois, finding that an Illinois law violates federal conscience protections by conditioning liability protections on abortion referral requirements. According to HHS, the state unlawfully forces health care providers with moral or religious objections to abortion to refer patients for abortion in order to receive protections under state law.

“OCR’s action sends a clear message that no state may coerce health care professionals into violating their conscience as the price of practicing medicine,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Federal law has long protected doctors, nurses, hospitals, and medical institutions from being forced to participate in abortion. HHS is right to enforce those protections and hold states accountable when they ignore them.”

The action enforces the Weldon Amendment and the Coats-Snowe Amendment, which prohibit government discrimination against health care entities that refuse to perform, refer for, arrange, pay for, or provide coverage of abortion.

In addition to the Illinois enforcement action, OCR announced significant deregulatory measures, rescinding or formally repudiating eight prior guidance documents issued under the previous administration that were outdated, inconsistent with federal law, or improperly expanded abortion-related mandates under the guise of conscience enforcement.

“These deregulatory steps correct years of legal overreach that distorted conscience laws and treated abortion as an entitlement rather than a grave moral issue,” Tobias said. “By restoring the law to its proper meaning, HHS is protecting both conscience rights and respect for human life.”

To further clarify federal protections, OCR also issued a nationwide Dear Colleague Letter summarizing all federal health care conscience statutes, including those related to abortion and assisted suicide. The letter is intended to serve as a comprehensive educational resource for states, health care providers, and institutions regarding their rights and obligations under federal law.

“Respect for conscience and respect for life are inseparable,” Tobias added. “We commend HHS for enforcing the law as written and for standing up for the rights of health care professionals who should never be forced to choose between their careers and their moral convictions.”

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.