Trump-Backed <br />'Conscience' Rule for Healthcare <br />Providers Voided by US Judge.<br />The rule made it easier for<br />healthcare workers, including <br />doctors and nurses, to deny certain <br />services due to moral or religious reasons.<br />Critics of the rule have said it could <br />allow for open discrimination against <br />the LGBTQ community or refusal <br />to perform abortion procedures.<br />According to U.S. District <br />Judge Paul Engelmayer, the <br />"conscience" rule is coercive. .<br />It would permit the withholding<br />of billions in federal funding from <br />providers that failed to comply.<br />Wherever the outermost line where persuasion gives way to coercion lies, the threat to pull all HHS funding here crosses it, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, via Reuters.<br />Judge Engelmayer's ruling stands <br />in New York and 21 other states.<br />A similar lawsuit filed in <br />California is also challenging the rule
