Health & Human Services civil rights director Severino applies his religion to policy

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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/20/591833000/civil-rights-chief-at-hhs-defends-the-right-to-refuse-care-on-religious-grounds



But since he took over as head of the HHS civil rights office a year ago, some advocates see Severino's tenure at the agency as more of a nightmare.

"Director Severino presents himself as a civil rights lawyer. And what he has done as OCR director is turn the idea of civil rights on its head," says Harper Jean Tobin, policy director at the National Center for Transgender Equality.

That's because Severino — a devout Catholic and political conservative — has put the right to religious freedom front and center in his fight against discrimination in health care.

In public appearances he refers to religious freedom as "the first freedom." Since coming to HHS he has issued a rule that allows employers to refuse to cover birth control as part of their employee health insurance plans, if employers have a religious or moral objection to contraception.

And earlier this year he created an entirely new division within the civil rights office — the Division of Conscience and Religious Freedom.