The Trump administration has launched investigations into 13 states accused of forcing health plans and other healthcare entities to cover or pay for abortion despite federal conscience protections under the Weldon Amendment.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has opened investigations into 13 states over laws and policies that allegedly require healthcare entities to cover or pay for abortions despite religious or moral objections.
The investigations are being conducted by the department’s Office for Civil Rights, which said the state policies may conflict with the Weldon Amendment, a federal law enacted in 2004 to protect the conscience rights of certain healthcare providers and organizations. The amendment bars federal funding for programs or state or local governments that discriminate against physicians, hospitals, insurers, or other healthcare entities that decline to provide, cover, or pay for abortions.
Paula M. Stannard, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, said the investigations are intended to determine whether the states are complying with federal law.
“OCR launches these investigations to address certain states’ alleged disregard of, or confusion about, compliance with the Weldon Amendment,” she said. “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.”
HHS identified the states under review as California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
The move follows the current administration’s commitment to stop the misuse of taxpayer funding for abortions.
“For nearly 50 years, the Hyde Amendment has protected taxpayer funds administered by the Department from paying for elective abortion. Pursuant to the President’s Executive Order of Jan. 24 (enforcing the Hyde Amendment) and guidance from Office of Management and Budget, the Department will reevaluate all programs, regulations, and guidance to ensure Federal taxpayer dollars are not being used to pay for or promote elective abortion, consistent with the Hyde Amendment,” then-acting HHS Secretary Dr. Dorothy Fink, wrote in a January 2025 statement regarding an agency-wide reevaluation of all regulations and guidance put forth by federal laws on conscience and religious exercise.
Several of those states have previously faced legal challenges from religious organizations that say they’ve been mandated to cover abortion in violation of their constitutional rights.
In New York, a 2017 regulation required employers to include coverage for abortion-related services in their health plans. Attorneys with Becket Law challenged the mandate on behalf of several ministries, churches, and nuns, arguing it forced faith-based employers to pay for procedures that violate their beliefs.
In Washington State, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of Cedar Park Assembly of God in Kirkland, challenging the state’s Reproductive Parity Act, which took effect in 2018 and requires certain health insurance plans that cover maternity care for employees to also cover elective abortions. The case has been in litigation for several years. ADF argues that the law violates the First Amendment by forcing the church to facilitate abortion through its health insurance plan. Cedar Park Assembly, which previously provides a health plan that excluded abortion coverage, maintains that abortion contradicts its biblical convictions.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately rejected the church’s challenge in a divided decision, finding that it lacked standing to bring the lawsuit, despite the fact that the majority concluded that Washington’s conscience law allows religious employers to opt out of paying for abortion coverage and that alternative insurance plans may still exist without such coverage.
Attorneys representing the church criticized the decision, arguing it prevents a religious organization from challenging a policy that conflicts with its beliefs. The legal case is ongoing.
In Illinois, the Thomas More Society filed suit over a state law requiring health insurance policies sold in the state to include coverage for both chemical and surgical abortions. The legal group argued the policy lacked exemptions for religious institutions, including churches.
Federal officials said the investigations will examine whether the states’ policies violate protections guaranteed under the Weldon Amendment. HHS has not announced a timeline for completing the reviews.
The HHS investigation addresses the fundamental question of whether the government can force Americans to violate their conscience. Many states openly believe that they can, which is why HHS is right to launch this investigation to determine if, and how, states are doing it covertly.
For decades, federal law has recognized that medical professionals and religious organizations cannot be compelled to participate in abortion. The 2004 Weldon Amendment specifically protects hospitals, insurers, and health care workers who refuse to provide or pay for abortions because of their deeply held beliefs, but the freedom of conscience is, and always has been, the cornerstone of a free society.
Yet many states believe that the “right” to reproductive freedom allows them to override the God-given right to religious liberty. By mandating abortion coverage in health insurance plans with little or no exemption for religious organizations, these governments are effectively telling churches, charities, and faith-based ministries that their convictions do not matter.
Such demands are profoundly wrong and raise serious constitutional concerns under the First Amendment, as well as longstanding federal conscience protections like the Weldon Amendment.
Even people who disagree about abortion should recognize the danger of forcing Americans to act against their conscience. If the government can compel participation in abortion today, what will it force tomorrow?
Abortion ends the life of a developing human being. Being forced to fund abortion is participation in the taking of innocent human life, something that is clearly a violation of the Sixth Commandment.
Governments should strive to protect both human life and citizens’ freedom to live according to their beliefs, but increasingly too many states are choosing coercion over freedom and forcing Americans to participate in activities they find abhorrent. It needs to stop, and hopefully the HHS investigation will ensure that it does.
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