HHS official to abortion opponents: 'We're just getting started'

For the first time in recent memory, an official from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spoke at a conference of the nation’s largest anti-abortion organization.

“Our president is fearless when it comes to life and conscience,” said Roger Severino, who directs the Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. “We’re just getting started.” Severino was a featured speaker at the National Right to Life convention Thursday in Overland Park.

The Department of Health and Human Services drew both praise and criticism in January when the Trump Administration created a new conscience and religious freedom division of the office of civil rights and proposed regulations to protect health care workers who don’t want to perform abortions or other services because of their religious or moral beliefs.

The department’s strategic plan also now includes language that says, “A core component of the HHS mission is the dedication to serve all Americans from conception to natural death.”