Olivia Vest
Managing Editor
A “religious liberty” executive order signed into law Thursday, May 4, by President Donald Trump, meets controversial response.
Following several weeks of speculation regarding the executive order and the potential impact it may have on as women’s health and LGBTQ+ issues, the final draft and signed copy of the law has received substantial backlash from organizations like the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), which spoke out in statements online.
“It’s a dual dose of pandering to a base and denying reproductive care,” the ACLU tweeted Thursday afternoon. “We will see Trump in court, again.”
Despite the negative attention of civil liberty organizations, many conservative and religious leaders backed the executive order and stood alongside Trump at the law’s signing.
According to Trump following the authorization, the executive order reinsures religious groups the right to free speech.
“Under my administration, free speech does not end at the steps of a cathedral or a synagogue or any other house of worship,” Trump said. “We are giving our churches their voices back and we are giving them back in the highest form.”
According to CNN, the executive order is supposed to be related to the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which stated that religious groups could lose their lawful tax exemptions when found to actively endorse and/or oppose a candidate for political office. Only one organization has lost the exemption in correlation with the 60-year-old amendment.
The executive order follows statements Trump made in February, when he spoke out against the Johnson Amendment.
“I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives to speak freely without fear of retribution,” Trump said in February at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.
Though the administration is upholding appearances that the law is simply enacted to provide freedom of speech to religious leaders, it has received backlash on the grounds of substantial gender discrimination.
Section 3 of the executive order encourages several different governmental services to consider amending regulations on “conscience-based objections to the preventative care mandate.” The longstanding law, as it stands currently, requires health insurance services to cover “additional preventative care and screenings” for women (300gg-13(a)(4) of title 42, United States Code).
The executive order blatantly urges U.S. departments, including the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Health, to amend these requirements. This would mean that basic women’s health coverages could be at risk for removal from healthcare plans. Though the executive order does not change the current law, it urges for changes that would be destructive to women’s rights.
Questions have also arisen regarding the extent of religious freedom. Many fear that this is the first step toward allowing discrimination against LGBTQ+ community members and the further dismantling of women’s
rights.