In a win for religious liberty, federally funded pharmacies with pro-life views no longer have to choose between breaking the law or violating their conscience.
The Trump administration has revoked a Biden-era policy that required pharmacies receiving federal funding to stock and dispense abortion-inducing medication, a move supporters say strengthens protections for religious liberty and conscience rights.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on January 27 that it has formally withdrawn guidance issued in 2022 that mandated all federally funded pharmacies stock and dispense abortion pills. While portions of the policy were modified after a 2023 court ruling in favor of religiously affiliated pharmacies, advocates said remaining provisions continued to expose some pharmacies to potential federal enforcement.
“We are grateful to the Trump administration for rescinding Biden-era guidance that forced Americans to dispense abortion-inducing drugs against their conscience,” said Matt Bowman, senior counsel and director of regulatory practice for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), adding that “HHS’s decision “will protect our former client and pharmacies around the country who are fully within their rights to decline to stock or dispense abortion drugs.”
HHS said the decision was influenced by issues raised in State of Texas and Mayo Pharmacy v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a lawsuit that challenged the original guidance and cited arguments from attorneys with ADF attorneys.
The suit argued that the Biden administration’s policy required pharmacies serving Medicare, Medicaid, and other federally insured patients to provide elective abortion drugs, even when doing so conflicted with their religious convictions.
Mayo Pharmacy, a community pharmacy in Bismarck, North Dakota, owned by pharmacist Kevin Martian, joined the lawsuit in March 2023, saying the mandate placed the business in an untenable position. The policy, the pharmacy said, would have forced it to either stop serving customers who rely on federal programs or violate its faith-based beliefs.
“Unelected bureaucrats shouldn’t be forcing Americans to dispense abortion-inducing drugs against their conscience,” said Andrea Dill, legal counsel for ADF, in a statement released during the lawsuit’s proceedings. “The Biden administration’s repeated attempts to impose a federal right to abortion continue to fail because that right has never existed—not to mention it’s illegal and directly conflicts with federal and state law.”
Pro-life organizations have long maintained that the 2022 mandate conflicted with federal conscience protections and a range of state abortion restrictions, potentially exposing pharmacies to enforcement actions. With the guidance now fully rescinded, supporters say pharmacies will no longer face federal pressure to dispense abortion medication in violation of their moral or religious beliefs.
For Christians, the Trump administration’s decision to repeal the Biden-era pharmacy abortion mandate reaffirms a foundational biblical truth: that God alone is Lord of the conscience and no earthly authority has the right to compel believers to violate their deeply held convictions.
Scripture is clear that human life is sacred from conception. Psalm 139:13-14 declares, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb… I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The Bible also teaches that obedience to God must come before obedience to people. In Acts 5:29, the apostles boldly proclaimed, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
Pharmacists who refuse to dispense abortion-inducing drugs are not acting out of hatred. They are acting out of conscience, determined to honor God and protect life. Those who stand for life have long understood that abortion pills end life and can also cause serious physical, mental, and spiritual harm to women. The suffering, anxiety, and lasting sorrow that many women report afterward cannot be brushed aside or minimized.
The Bible teaches that every human life is precious, including both the unborn child and the mother. Unborn children cannot advocate for themselves, but we must. That means standing up for them while also offering compassion and real support to women who are often steered toward abortion pills without being told the full truth about what they involve.
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