13 States Are Under Investigation By Rfk Jr’s Hhs For ‘coercing’ Doctors To Perform Abortions

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services has opened an investigation into 13 states for “coercing” doctors to execute abortions.

The probe centers connected claims that nan states violated nan Weldon Amendment, nan agency’s Office for Civil Rights announced connected Thursday. The amendment — a national “conscience” proviso — bars states receiving national backing from penalizing wellness attraction providers that diminution to offer, money aliases screen abortion services.

“OCR launches these investigations to reside definite states’ alleged disregard of, aliases disorder about, compliance pinch nan Weldon Amendment,” Paula Stannard, nan OCR director, said successful a news release.

“Under nan Weldon Amendment,” Stannard said, “health attraction entities, specified arsenic wellness security issuers and wellness plans, are protected from authorities favoritism for not paying for, aliases providing sum of, abortion contrary to conscience. Period.”

The states nether investigation each voted for erstwhile Vice President Kamala Harris successful 2024. They are: California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, according to The Hill.

An HHS charismatic told nan outlet that nan probes were not initiated by reports from nan states, but they said it was “largely, I think, because nan anterior management closed complaints.”

In 2021, erstwhile President Joe Biden’s HHS withdrew a announcement of violation delivered to California during President Donald Trump’s first word and closed nan title which prompted nan notice. HHS, astatine nan time, stated that aggregate of nan organizations successful question, including a religion and missionary group, could not beryllium defined arsenic a “health attraction entity.”

An HHS charismatic told The Hill that this determination “reflected an unduly constrictive reference of nan statute.”

The charismatic said nan proviso is basal “because of interest complete nan truth that authorities and section governments were coercing wellness attraction entities … some providers arsenic good arsenic wellness plans and wellness security companies, into covering aliases providing abortion, contempt belief aliases conscientious objections to those requirements.”

An agency spokesperson did not instantly respond to a petition for remark from The Independent.

The recently announced investigations people nan latest effort by nan Trump management to target abortion work providers, pursuing nan Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade successful 2022.

In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order to prohibit payer dollars from being utilized to beforehand aliases money elective abortions.

In June, nan management revoked a Biden-era national directive requiring emergency rooms to supply an abortion erstwhile basal to prevention a patient's life.

Most Americans support abortions being legalized, pinch 60 percent saying nan process should beryllium permitted successful each aliases astir cases, while 38 percent judge it should beryllium forbidden successful each aliases astir instances, according to a March survey from nan Pew Research Center.