Mike Pence is getting dragged for saying Trump would 'never, ever penalize anyone for their religious beliefs'

Mike Pence at National Day of Prayer event

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

last updated 3 May 2019

Before President Trump announced a sweeping new "religious liberty" rule for health-care providers at Thursday morning's National Day of Prayer breakfast, Vice President Mike Pence teased the unveiling. "From early in this administration," he said, "President Trump has taken steps to ensure that the federal government will never, ever penalize anyone for their religious beliefs ever again."

First of all, what Trump is proposing is an executive branch rule that can be discarded or replaced by the next president, so "never, ever" seems a bit of a stretch. But more saliently — several people recalled in response to the White House tweet of Pence's remarks — one of the first things "this administration" did was try to effectively enact the "Muslim ban" Trump had promised as a presidential candidate. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee had good reason to remember this, as he noted:

The 440-page rule — which will take effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register, if it survives court challenges — broadly aims to allow doctors, nurses, EMTs, other health-care providers, insurers, and employers to refuse to perform or pay for medical services that violate their religious beliefs, specifically listing abortion, sterilization, or euthanasia. It also allows parents more leeway to refuse medical services for their children, including vaccinations in applicable states.

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Administration officials say the new rule merely enforces laws already on the books, but it also "broadly defines, or in some cases redefines, key terms in the law such as discrimination, referrals, and what it means to assist in a procedure," The Washington Post reports. It also requires health-care entities to file a lot more paperwork, and gives new enforcement power to the Health and Human Services Department's civil rights division.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.