HHS Restores Conscience and Religious Freedom Division
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on May 18, 2026, that the department is restoring the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within its Office for Civil Rights. The division was first created in 2018 and dissolved in 2023. The move aims to protect healthcare workers who object to certain procedures on religious or moral grounds.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services restored its Conscience and Religious Freedom Division on May 18, 2026, reversing a 2023 decision that had dissolved the office.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the reorganization, which splits the Office for Civil Rights into three separate divisions: the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, the Civil Rights Division, and the Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division.
OCR Director Paula M. Stannard said the new structure ensures that conscience rights are no longer treated as "second-class" within the agency. The division will enforce federal laws protecting healthcare workers who decline to participate in procedures that conflict with their religious beliefs or moral convictions.
The restoration follows an April 30, 2026, Department of Justice report on anti-Christian bias in federal health policy. HHS was a principal member of the task force that produced the report.
In March 2026, the OCR opened investigations into 13 states over alleged violations of federal conscience protections for individuals with religious or moral objections to abortion.
The administration has also criticized prior interpretations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act that were used to require hospital participation in abortions during emergencies. Catholic health organizations had challenged those interpretations in court.
HHS said the reorganization will not reduce the OCR workforce. The agency is transitioning to a program-based structure to provide what officials called "clarity, accountability, and resolve" in defending religious rights.
