The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) is taking action to protect healthcare providers, health, insurers, employer, and other health plans and their sponsors and others from being penalized for refusing to cover or pay for abortion by states or other entities covered by the rights of conscience rules of the Weldon Amendment.
Plan sponsors, fiduciaries, administrators and insurers that have offered abortion or other reproductive rights coverage under pressure from Biden, administration or state agencies, threatening adverse consequences for not covering those procedures should reevaluate their options in light of the new guidance and adjust their design or administration accordingly.
On March 19, 2026, OCR announced its investigation of 13 states for allegedly violating the Weldon Amendment federal health care conscience law by coercing health care entities, health insurers, and employers and their health plans to provide coverage of, or pay for, abortion contrary to conscience.
The Weldon Amendment, among other things, prohibits federal, state, or local government discrimination against health care entities that choose not to pay for, or provide coverage of, abortion.
After it repudiated a 2021 Biden Administration era letter that excluded employers and plan sponsors from the scope of health care entities protected by the Weldon Amendment, OCR notified states and other regulated entities no longer rely on the now-repudiated legal position.
OCR Director Paula M. Stannard says, “Under the Weldon Amendment, health care entities, such as health insurance issuers and health plans, are protected from state discrimination for not paying for, or providing coverage of, abortion contrary to conscience. Period.”
OCR’s announcement builds upon the Trump Administration policy and HHS’ resulting recent efforts to enforce federally protected right of conscience protections and protect human life.
Over the past year, OCR initiated a host of policy revisions and investigations in furtherance of President Trump’s priorities of protecting rights of conscience and human life. See Fact Sheet: HHS Takes Comprehensive Action to Enforce Conscience Rights and Protect Human Life, and OCR’s conscience and religious freedom webpage.
Among other things, OCR has taken action to protect health care workers, support whistleblowers, and reinforce adherence to religious and conscience exemptions in the Vaccines for Children Program as part of these policies.
Earlier this year, OCR also issued a Notice of Violation that found an Illinois state law violated the Weldon and the Coats-Snowe Amendments, which are part of the two dozen federal health care conscience protection statutes that HHS enforces. The Illinois Notice of Violation charged the Illinois law unlawfully ties health care provider conscience protections to referral requirements in the case of abortion.
Along with the charges against Illinois, OCR also:
- Issued three public notices describing OCR deregulatory actions to align with President Trump’s E.O. 14182, Enforcing the Hyde Amendment; and
- Issued nationwide Dear Colleague Letter explaining OCR’s right of conscious policy under the Trump Administration.
That guidance rescinded and repudiated certain Biden Administration era policies that the Trump Administration viewed outdated or inconsistent with the law as construed and enforced by the Trump Administration.
To educate the public, OCR also released a nationwide Dear Colleague Letter summarizing federal health care conscience protection statutes, including those laws specific to abortion, sterilization, and assisted suicide.
In light of the new OCR emphasis on protecting rights of conscience against governmental, encroachment, as well actions of private healthcare or other organizations regulated or funded by OCR, as well as healthcare providers, health plans and insurers, their employer or other sponsors, and fiduciaries should evaluate their policies and practices.
Health plans, their employer and other sponsors, fiduciaries, and administrators that felt compelled to offer abortion or other reproductive services, Taylor vaccine policies, or engage in other conduct and violation of their rights of conscious should consult experienced legal counsel about the protections potentially available under the new policies of the Trump Administration and the required or recommended steps to take to revise their plans to defensively exercises rights.
Meanwhile, states, local governments, government contractors, and healthcare and other organization, subject to HHS write a conscious rules should reevaluate their policies regarding abortion, vaccination, and other reproductive rights in light of the new guidance to avoid violating the adjusted policies.
If you have questions about this or other health care concerns, contact the author.
For More Information
We hope this update is helpful. For more information about the or other health or other employee benefits, human resources, or health care developments, please contact the author Cynthia Marcotte Stamer via e-mail or via telephone at (214) 452 -8297.
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About the Author
Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is an American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and a Martindale-Hubble “AV-Preeminent” (Top 1%) attorney and advisor board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization peer peer celebrated as “Top Rated Lawyer” and “LEGAL LEADER™ “Top Rated Lawyer” and “Best Lawyer” for her work in ERISA & Employee Benefits Law, Health Care Law, Labor and Employment Law, and Business and Commercial Law.
Nationally recognised for her decades of leading edge health and other employee benefits and insurance, compensation, human resources and other management work, public policy leadership and advocacy, coaching, teachings, and publications, Ms. Stamer is well known for her decades of pragmatic, leading edge work, scholarship and thought leadership on health benefit and other health and managed care, privacy and data security and other employee benefit, insurance, and health industry legal, public policy and operational concerns.
Ms. Stamer’s work throughout her career has focused heavily on working with health care and managed care, health and other employee benefit plan, insurance and financial services and other public and private organizations and their technology, data, and other service providers and advisors domestically and internationally with legal and operational compliance and risk management, performance and workforce management, regulatory and public policy and other legal and operational concerns. As a a key focus of this work, she has continuously and extensively worked with domestic and international health plans, their sponsors, fiduciaries, administrators, and insurers; managed care and insurance organizations; third party administrators and other health benefit service providers; hospitals, health care systems and other health care providers, accreditation, peer review and quality committees and organizations; billing, utilization management, management services organizations, group purchasing organizations; pharmaceutical, pharmacy, and prescription benefit management and organizations; consultants; investors; EMR, claims, payroll and other technology, billing and reimbursement and other services and product vendors; products and solutions consultants and developers; investors; managed care organizations, self-insured health and other employee benefit plans, their sponsors, fiduciaries, administrators and service providers, insurers and other payers, health industry advocacy and other service providers and groups and other health and managed care industry clients as well as federal and state legislative, regulatory, investigatory and enforcement bodies and agencies.
Her experience includes more than 35 years of leading edge work for employer and other plan sponsors, plans and their fiduciaries, insurers, third party administrators, health care clearinghouses and other health care, insurance and other data and technology providers, and others on health and other employee benefits design, administration, compliance, and policy including decades of work on fiduciary compliance and risk management; eligibility, coverage and other plan mandates; administrative simplification and transparency; PBM, pharmacy and pharmaceutical management and regulation; surprise billing and other non-par provider; direct provider, vendor and other credentialing, contracting and management; and other managed care and insurance; high deductible, minimum or level premium, captive and other non traditional funding; and agency and private audits, investigations and enforcement; and other insured and self-insured health benefit contracting, design, administration, regulation, fiduciary and other liability managment, and other design, compliance, risk management, defense, and operations solutions.
She also has extensive experience helping health care systems and organizations, group and individual health care providers, health plans and insurers, health IT, life sciences and other health industry clients prevent, investigate, manage and resolve sexual assault, abuse, harassment and other organizational, provider and employee misconduct and other performance and behavior; manage Section 1557, Section 504, Civil Rights Act and other discrimination and accommodation, and other regulatory, contractual and other compliance; vendors and suppliers; contracting and other terms of participation, medical billing, reimbursement, claims administration and coordination, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare/Medicaid Advantage, ERISA and other payers and other provider-payer relations, contracting, compliance and enforcement; Form 990 and other nonprofit and tax-exemption; fundraising, investors, joint venture, and other business partners; quality and other performance measurement, management, discipline and reporting; physician and other workforce recruiting, performance management, peer review and other investigations and discipline, wage and hour, payroll, gain-sharing and other pay-for performance and other compensation, training, outsourcing and other human resources and workforce matters; board, medical staff and other governance; strategic planning, process and quality improvement; meaningful use, EMR, HIPAA and other technology, data security and breach and other health IT and data; STARK, ant kickback, insurance, and other fraud prevention, investigation, defense and enforcement; audits, investigations, and enforcement actions; trade secrets and other intellectual property; crisis preparedness and response; internal, government and third-party licensure, credentialing, accreditation, HCQIA and other peer review and quality reporting, audits, investigations, enforcement and defense; patient relations and care; internal controls and regulatory compliance; payer-provider, provider-provider, vendor, patient, governmental and community relations; facilities, practice, products and other sales, mergers, acquisitions and other business and commercial transactions; government procurement and contracting; grants; tax-exemption and not-for-profit; privacy and data security; training; risk and change management; regulatory affairs and public policy; process, product and service improvement, development and innovation, and other legal and operational compliance and risk management, government and regulatory affairs and operations concerns. to establish, administer and defend workforce and staffing, quality, and other compliance, risk management and operational practices, policies and actions; comply with requirements; investigate and respond to Department of Insurance, Board of Medicine, Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, Chiropractic, trucking, alcohol and firearm, and other licensing agencies, Department of Aging & Disability, FDA, Drug Enforcement Agency, OCR Privacy and Civil Rights, Department of Labor, IRS, HHS, DOD, FTC, SEC, CDC and other public health, Department of Justice and state attorneys’ general and other federal and state agencies; JCHO and other accreditation and quality organizations; private litigation and other federal and state health care industry actions: regulatory and public policy advocacy; training and discipline; enforcement; and other strategic and operational concerns.
Former lead advisor to the Government of Bolivia on its Social Security Privatization reform, miss Stamer also has extensive legislative and regulatory affairs experience on federal, state and international employee benefits, healthcare, workforce, education, insurance, data privacy and security, antitrust, and other regulations and reforms.
In addition, Ms. Stamer contributes her time and leadership to numerous policy, professional, civil and other organizations, Ms. Stamer currently or previously served as the Scribe leading annual agency meetings on HIPAA and other issues with the Department of Health and Human Services; leadership Council Representative, speaker, author and faculty lead for the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits; the ABA International Section International Employment Law Committee and International Life Sciences Committee Chair; the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Medicine and Law Committee Chair and Employee Benefits and Worker’s Compensation Committees Vice Chair; the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group Chair and Risk Management Interest Group Chair; the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Group Chair and Welfare Benefit, Fiduciary Responsibility, and Plan Terminations and Transactions Committees Chair; Vice President and Executive Director of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association; a Southwest Benefits Association Board Member; a SHRM Consultants National and Region IV Board Chair; WEB National Board Member and Dallas Chapter President; National Kidney Foundation of North Texas Board Member and Compliance Chair; Richardson Development Center (now Warren Center) for Children Early Childhood Intervention Agency Board President; a North Texas United Way Long Range Planning Committee Member; and other leadership involvement in a broad range of other professional and civic organizations.
Author of hundreds of highly regarded works on health and other benefits, human resources, health care, insurance, data privacy and security and other related concerns, examples of these publications include “Transparent PBM Contracting,” “ACOs, Direct Contracting: Legal & Practical Challenges For Employers, Providers & TPAs,” “The Medicare Advantage Contracting Manual,” “Third Party Administrator (TPA) Contracting Principles and Strategies and a multitude of other publications and presentations.
For more information about Ms. Stamer or her health industry and other experience and involvements, see www.cynthiastamer.com or contact Ms. Stamer via telephone at (214) 452-8297 or via e-mail here.
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