A federal judge in Texas has sided with two companies that don’t want to pay toward their employees’ PrEP, the medication that, when taken daily, prevents HIV infection.
Judge Reed O’Connor, a Bush appointee for the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, ruled yesterday that paying for PrEP via the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Christian businesses Braidwood Management and Kelley Orthodontics brought the case against the US Department of Health. The former has 70 employees and is owned by Steven Hotze, a conservative activist in Texas.
The businesses argued that PrEP conflicted with their owners’ religious beliefs. They claim paying for PrEP, “forces religious employers to provide coverage for drugs that facilitate and encourage homosexual behavior, prostitution, sexual promiscuity, and intravenous drug use.”
This is not the first time Judge O’Connor, described by The Hill as a “notorious Republican”, has taken a swipe at the ACA. He ruled in 2018 that the entire law was invalid. That judgment was later overruled by the Supreme Court.
It is unclear whether the ruling applies nationwide or just to the two businesses concerned.
“What happens next remains a wide open question as to whom it affects,” Tim Jost, emeritus professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, told CNN.
The White House responds to PrEP ruling
The Biden administration moved swiftly to respond to the ruling.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted, “The Administration is reviewing today’s decision by the Northern District of Texas. The Affordable Care Act has been the law of the land for over 10 years.
“In addition to making affordable health insurance available to millions of Americans, the ACA has guaranteed free access to critical preventive medical services—from cancer screenings to HIV prevention drugs like PrEP.
“That guarantee is critical to the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans, particularly LGBTQI+ Americans, people of color, pregnant women, and others.
“The Administration is committed to protecting Americans’ access to free preventive health care and building upon the successes of the Affordable Care Act.”
The Administration is reviewing today’s decision by the Northern District of Texas. The Affordable Care Act has been the law of the land for over 10 years.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) September 7, 2022
Decision by Texas federal judge slammed by HIV experts
PrEP has been credited with greatly reducing HIV infections since its introduction in 2012. Judge O’Connor’s ruling has been widely criticized.
“Without covering PrEP, highly at-risk populations — mostly gay and bisexual men and Black women — will continue to become infected with HIV, perpetuating this ongoing epidemic in our society,” Perry N. Halkitis, Dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, said in a statement to Queerty.
Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, said in a statement: “To single out PrEP, FDA-approved drugs that effectively prevent HIV, and conclude that its coverage violates the religious freedom of certain individuals, is plain wrong, highly discriminatory, and impedes the public health of our nation.”
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Covid Hermit
I am so SICK AND TIRED of bigots saying that blatant discrimination against LGBTQ+ people is a religious issue. It isn’t. It’s bigotry and discrimination and nothing more.
If you want to talk about religious liberty, talk about the people of Tibet, who are forbidden to practice Tibetan Buddhism except under the aegis of the Chinese government. Tibetans are forbidden to even so much as own a picture of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, and the REAL Panchen Lama (#2 behind the Dalai Lama) hasn’t been seen in years. China has denied real religious liberty to the Tibetan people since they marched in and forcibly took over Tibet in 1950 (and gee, I wonder why they have no problem with Russia trying to do the same thing in Ukraine? Mao got away with it, so why shouldn’t Putin?).
Calling blatant discrimination “religious liberty” is a joke. But, of course, if they called it what it is, then it wouldn’t go over so well, I guess.
LumpyPillows
This is just so wrong. Perhaps this will be the issue that finally breaks the ludicrous use of religion to destroy other people’s rights and freedoms. Your religion is only relevant in how you live your life – it has no power over others.
Abortion was the start – removing the right to abortion has a tenuous argument over protecting the fetus. Denying people life saving drugs has no such argument.
This is what happens when we lose elections. We lose elections when we give the enemy easy ways to knock us down. There are ramifications to what we say and do. Think about that it when you are being smugly toxic…
Vince
Ah the pro death cult wants more gay people to die I see. I’m sure the next step will be to cut insurance with those with HIV.
How about my religious freedom that says to treat others with respect? Do unto others as you would have others do unto you and such.
LumpyPillows
Targeting disease based on who gets the disease or how they get the disease is the beginning of the end. It is the most un-Christian approach, which surprises none of us.
RickHeathen
The next logical step for them is to stop covering HIV meds for people once infected. After all, if they don’t want to stop people from contracting HIV, then what about the religious freedom for those who want their god’s judgment upon the gay community to not to be thwarted by medical science? This slippery slope needs to be stopped immediately.
DBMC
Two groups who really need to stay out of healthcare; politicians, priests (& preachers).
Mister P
Providing healthcare in other developed nations is not the lease bit controversial.
In America the party that calls itself christian and pro-life act as if taking care of people is a bad thing. I will never understand their logic because there isn’t any.
Kangol2
They’re going all the way. I told everyone here that Jonathan Mitchell, that extreme right-wing Texas lawyer who wrote Texas’s anti-abortion/forced birth law was coming for LGBTQ people and sure enough, here he goes. His and the far right’s agenda is to exclude and segregate out LGBTQ people, strip away our rights and equality, and take us back to the pre-1969 era. Unless more voters, especially White voters who make up the overwhelming bulk of the GQP’s supporters, push back and stop voting for them, and demand Democrats and people belonging to other non-fascist parties WRITE OUR RIGHTS into the laws and Constitution, we are going to face increasing attacks. People like Mitchell, Abbott, Alito, Thomas, etc. do not care about “religious liberty”; they are seeking ways to legalize and legitimate discrimination. This country lived through this crap for hundreds of years when it came to Black Americans, Indigenous Americans, Asian Americans, LGBTQ people, even women, so we CANNOT allow things to go backwards!
Man About Town
The usage of PrEP will “facilitate and encourage homosexual behavior.” I guess that means they’re worried we’ll behave ourselves.
cuteguy
So the GQP is pro life but only when it doesn’t involve the letters LGBTQ?
jax florida
I suppose this would also allow businesses owned by Jehovah’s Witnesses to have health plans that don’t cover anything that could involve a blood transfusion.