Trump administration revokes transgender health protection

Trump ministration Friday finalized a regulation that overturns Obama-era protections for trans people against sex discrimination in health care. policy shift, long-sought by president's religious and socially conservative supporters, defines as a person's biological sex. Obama regulation defined as a person's internal sense of being male, female, neir or a combination.

LGBTQ groups say explicit protections are needed for people seeking sex-reassignment treatment, and even for trans people who need medical care for common conditions such as diabetes or heart problems.

Behind dispute over legal rights is a medically recognized condition called “ dysphoria” — discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between that a person identifies as and at birth. Consequences can include severe depression. Treatment can range from sex-reassignment surgery and hormones to people changing ir outward appearance by opting a different hairstyle or clothing.

Many social conservatives disagree with concept.

Women's groups say new regulations also undermine access to abortion, which is a legal medical procedure.

“ one should fear being turned away by a medical provider because of who y are or personal health decisions y have me,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president of National Women’s Law Center, raising threat of a court challenge.

ACLU has also said it would sue to overturn Trump rule.

Under Obama-era federal rule, a hospital could be required to perform -transition procedures such as hysterectomies if facility provided that kind of treatment for or medical conditions. rule was meant to carry out anti-discrimination section of Affordable Care Act, which bars sex discrimination in health care but does t use term “ identity.”

Roger Severi, he of Health and Human Services Department unit that enforces civil rights laws, has said trans people continue to be protected by or statutes that bar discrimination in health care on account of race, color, national origin, , disability and or factors.

For ministration it's latest in a series of steps to revoke newly won protections for LGBTQ people in areas ranging from military to housing and education.

ministration also has moved to restrict military service by trans men and women, proposed allowing certain homeless shelters to take identity into account in offering someone a bed for night, and concluded in a 2017 Justice Department memo that federal civil rights law does t protect trans people from discrimination at work.

proposed new rule would also affect tices that millions of patients get in multiple langus about ir rights to translation services. Such tices often come with insurer “explanation of benefits” forms. Trump ministration says tice requirement has become a needless burden on health care providers, requiring billions of paper tices to be mailed annually at an estimated five-year cost of $3.2 billion.