WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced Thursday that it is investigating 13 states suspected of coercing health providers into covering abortion in violation of federal law.
“OCR launches these investigations to address certain states’ alleged disregard of, or confusion about, compliance with the Weldon Amendment,” OCR director Paula Stannard said in an agency press release. “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.”
The Weldon Amendment states that federal funds may not be given to any federal, state, or local government agency or program that “subjects any institutional or individual health care entity to discrimination on the basis that the health care entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.” In January, OCR formally repudiated Biden-era guidances that undermined Weldon and other pro-life conscience protections.
EWTN provided more details, including that the states under investigation are California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington – any state with “some type of mandate” to “cover abortion,” according to an HHS official on a press conference call.
States found to be in violation will be given a chance to voluntarily correct their policies. If they fail or refuse to do so, they could face either loss of federal health dollars or referrals to the U.S. Department of Justice for potential action.
Protecting Americans from being forced to support abortion has been the most consistent pro-life aspect of President Donald Trump’s second term. Within weeks of returning to office, he began enforcing the Hyde Amendment, which bans direct federal funding of most abortions; reinstated the Mexico City Policy which forbids non-governmental organizations from using taxpayer dollars for elective abortions abroad; and cut millions in pro-abortion subsidies by freezing U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spending.
Last July, he signed into law his controversial “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (BBB), a wide-ranging policy package that includes a one-year ban on federal tax dollars going through Medicaid to any that provides abortions for reasons other than rape, incest, or supposed threats to the mother’s life.
That and other cuts have significantly impacted the bottom line of Planned Parenthood. According to Operation Rescue, 54 abortion facilities shut their doors in 2024, 36 of which were Planned Parenthood locations. Last year, the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute reported that the Hyde Amendment alone was responsible for preventing more than 2.5 million abortions since its adoption in 1976.
