Seth Udinski, FISM News

[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]

On Thursday, the highly anticipated court case between a Catholic health group and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra began with oral arguments.

The case, Franciscan Alliance vs. Becerra, began with a lawsuit in 2016 in response to the Obama administration’s controversial requirements for doctors nationwide to provide gender reassignment for patients seeking it.

To no surprise, this has forced many Christians in the healthcare industry into a situation where they potentially have to turn their backs on their religious convictions in order to keep their jobs.

In response, a group of roughly 19,000 healthcare workers known as the Franciscan Alliance filed suit against the mandate in the District Court of Northern Texas in August of 2016. The case has made its way to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where both sides presented oral arguments yesterday.

Multiple times since the case began in the summer of 2016, the courts have indicated they would side with the religious groups. However, no official stoppage of the ruling has been put in place.

In the summer of 2021, the District Court gave the doctors in question permanent relief from the ruling. At the end of the year, the Biden administration appealed the ruling, leading to Thursday’s necessitated court hearing.

If the Franciscan Alliance wins the case, it would prove to be a monumental step in the fight for religious and health freedom in America.

FISM News will follow the outcome of this case as it unfolds. For more information on how to better understand health freedom, visit the Citizen’s Council for Health Freedom website.