Religious health care providers beat ACA restriction appeal

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a Texas federal court ruling that exempts a group of religious health care providers from the abortion and gender rights requirements of the Affordable Care Act. In an 18-page opinion filed Friday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld the permanent injunction by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Wichita Falls. The Franciscan Alliance, Christian Medical and Dental Society and Specialty Physicians of Illinois sued to block the Biden administration from enforcing ACA provisions they feared would require them to perform abortions or gender-transition treatment.