If the draft text becomes law, abortion will become fully legal up to 14 weeks of gestation, midwives will be allowed to perform abortions – including surgical ones – up to 10 weeks gestation, and the special conscience clause covering doctors, nurses, midwives and other health personnel will be scrapped.
The Obama-era regulations implied that medical providers would have to commit abortions and treat patients based on their asserted 'gender identity' or risk losing government aid, along with facing possible legal action.
16 state attorneys general also filed a separate amicus brief in support of a new rule exempting health care workers from being forced to participate in abortions.
'No healthcare facility or practitioner should provide, or refer a patient for, an abortion,' the bishops state in their new code of ethics for Catholic hospitals.