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County of Santa Clara v. HHS

Cases

Status: Open
Court:
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Lambda Legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “Denial-of-Care” Rule.

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In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in coordination with Santa Clara County, the organizations are representing Trust Women Seattle, Hartford GYN, Whitman-Walker Health, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, Los Angeles LGBT Center, Center on Halsted, Mazzoni Center, GLMA, Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists, Medical Students for Choice and various physicians.

The new regulation invites health care workers – doctors, nurses, EMTs, administrators and clerical staff – to deny medical treatment and services to patients because of personal religious or moral beliefs. Health care facilities that do not comply risk losing federal funding. The regulation will cause mass confusion among health care providers and is completely infeasible to implement. As a result, health care facilities may do away with reproductive and LGBTQ services altogether, leaving millions without access to critical health care.

The lawsuit argues that the rule is unconstitutional because it advances specific religious beliefs in violation of the First Amendment; violates patients’ rights to privacy, liberty and equal dignity as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment; and chills patients’ speech and expression in violation of the First Amendment, all to the detriment of patients’ health and well-being. The lawsuit also asserts that HHS violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act in creating the rule by arbitrarily and capriciously failing to consider the impact on patients.

History

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  • May 24, 2019: HHS proposes new regulations designed to roll back regulations issued during the Obama Administration that clarified that, pursuant to federal law, the sex discrimination protections of the Affordable Care Act forbid discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
  • May 28, 2019: Lambda Legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Center for Reproductive Rights file suit.
  • November 19, 2019: Victory! Court vacates the Denial-of-Care rule in its entirety.

Attorneys

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Lambda Legal

Jamie Gliksberg, Senior Attorney

Camilla B. Taylor, Director of Constitutional Litigation

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Senior Attorney and Health Care Strategist

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Center for Reproductive Rights

Mayer Brown, LLP

Clients

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County of Santa Clara, CA

Trust Women Seattle

Hartford GYN

Whitman-Walker Health

Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center

Los Angeles LGBT Center

Center on Halsted

Mazzoni Center

GLMA

Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists

Medical Students for Choice

Complaints

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Decisions

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Other Legal Documents

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Safeguarding the Rights of Conscience as Protected by Federal Statutes (12/29/2022)
Answering Brief of Plaintiffs-Appellees County of Santa Clara, et al. (10/14/2020)
Supplemental Declaration of Dr. Randi C. Ettner (10/10/2019)
Second Declaration of Neli N. Palma (10/10/2019)
Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Appendix (10/10/2019)
Plaintiffs’ Second Request for Judicial Notice (10/10/2019)
Plaintiffs’ Reply in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment (10/10/2019)
Defendants’ Reply in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss (9/26/2019)
Declaration of Ward Carpenter et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Toni Tullys et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Stirling Price et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Seth Pardo et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Sarah Henn et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Sara H. Cody et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Ron Weigelt et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Ricardo Lara et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Randy Pumphrey et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Randie C. Chance et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Rachel Phelps et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Pete Cervinka et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Paul E. Lorenz et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Neli N. Palma et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Naseema Shafi et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Narinder Singh et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Modesto Valle et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Mari Cantwell et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Lois Backus et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Kevin Kish et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Ken Miller et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Julie Burkhart et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Joseph Morres et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Jill Sproul et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Jay Sturges et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Hector Vargas et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Greg Wagner et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Grant Colfax et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Frances Parmelee et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Elizabeth Barnes et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Diana Toche et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Denise Pines et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Debra Halladay et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of David H. Aizuss et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Colleen P. McNicholas et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Colleen P. McNicholas et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Christopher Colwell et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Christine Siador et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Bruce Hinze et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Brandon Nunes et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Brad Buchman et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Ben Rosenfeld et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Barry Zevin et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Alice Chen et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Alecia Manley et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of AGLP et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Adrian Shanker et al. (9/12/2019)
Declaration of Ward Carpenter, MD, Co-Director of Health Services, LA LGBT Center, in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Toni Tullys, M.P.A., Director of County of Santa Clara Behavioral Health Services Department, in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Sarah Henn, MD, MPH, Chief Health Officer, Whitman-Walker Health, in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Sara H. Cody, M.D., Health Officer and Director Of County of Santa Clara Public Health Department, in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Roy Harker, Executive Director of AGLP: The Association of LGBTQ+ Psychiatrists, in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Robert Bolan, Md, Chief Medical Officer, La LGBT Center, in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Randy Pumphrey, D.Min., LPC, BCC, Senior Director of Behavioral Health, Whitman-Walker Health, in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Dr. Randi C. Ettner, Ph.D. in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Rachael Phelps, M.D., in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Nationwide Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Phuong H. Nguyen, M.D., Interim Chief Medical Officer, Santa Clara v Alley Medical Center, in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Paul E. Lorenz in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
`Declaration of Naseema Shafi, Chief Executive Officer, Whitman-Walker Health in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Narinder Singh in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Modesto Valle, Chief Executive Office of Center on Halsted, in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Lois Backus, M.P.H., in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Nationwide Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Lee H. Rubin Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 5-1(i)(3) (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Dr. Ken Miller in Support of Plaintiffs’ Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Julie Burkhart in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Nationwide Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Jill Sproul in Support of the Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Hector Vargas, Executive Director of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality, in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
[Proposed] Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Nationwide Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Elizabeth Barnes in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Nationwide Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Darrel Cummings, Chief of Staff of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Colleen P. Mcnicholas, D.O., M.S.C.I., F.A.C.O.G., in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Nationwide Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Bruce Butler in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Alecia Manley, Interim Chief Operating Officer of the Mazzoni Center, in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Declaration of Adrian Shanker, Founder and Executive Director of Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (6/11/2019)
Plaintiffs’ Motion for Nationwide Preliminary Injunction and Memorandum of Points and Authorities (6/11/2019)

Press Releases

US HHS Issues Revised Rule Striking Earlier Rule that Allowed Health Care Workers to Deny Care for Religious Beliefs
December 29, 2022
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Advocates Urge Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to Affirm Ruling Striking Down Trump Administration Denial of Care Rule
October 14, 2020
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Blog Posts

US HHS Issues Revised Rule Striking Earlier Rule that Allowed Health Care Workers to Deny Care for Religious Beliefs

December 29, 2022

Trump Administration Launches Another Eleventh Hour Attack on LGBTQ Community with New HHS Rule Inviting Grantees to Discriminate

January 8, 2021
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