Thread by @chgrimaldi

Reporting live from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcing a new division to uphold so-called conscience protections at the expense of reproductive and LGBTQ health care. #LicensetoDiscriminate @Rewire_News

The division will enforce a new HHS rule, coming soon, reportedly giving an out to doctors, clinicians, etc. who don't want to treat LGBTQ patients or provide reproductive health care (abortion, yes, but also birth control and potentially much more). #LicensetoDiscriminate

I'll live-Tweet as much as I can while trying to put this all in context. Check back with me and @Hegemommy later today for a thorough analysis. #LicensetoDiscriminate @Rewire_News

The event was running late -- just started. Roger Severino, head of the HHS Office of Civil Rights, is up. Here's a look at his anti-LGBTQ leadership. #LicensetoDiscriminate rewire.news/article/2017/0…

Severino officially announces the launch of the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within the Office of Civil Rights. #LicensetoDiscriminate

Severino recalls President Trump's White House rose garden ceremony, which set the stage for the wide-scale LGBTQ discrimination coming to fruition today. #LicensetoDiscriminate @Hegemommy rewire.news/article/2017/0…

Severino invoking Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy to make the case for religious imposition. 👀 #LicensetoDiscriminate

Severino introducing panel, which includes House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), virulently anti-trans Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), and others.

Acting HHS Secretary Eric Hargan up. He calls the new division a "significant step" to implement President Trump's vision. #LicensetoDiscriminate @Hegemommy rewire.news/article/2017/0…

Hargan says (concedes) there are already protections for Americans of faith and that the new HHS division will vigorously defend them. #LicensetoDiscriminate

Hargan just wrapped up. He spoke a lot about the risks to Americans of faith but not about the risks that LGBTQ Americans face in the act of everyday living and accessing health care. Stats from @amprog @LGBTProgress @TheDursoIsIn. #LicensetoDiscriminate americanprogress.org/issues/lgbt/ne…

Oh my God, Kevin McCarthy flat-out says that it's not our differences that make us stronger as a nation -- it's our unity despite our diversity. Unity around the #LicensetoDiscriminate?

Kevin McCarthy h/t fake clinics routinely lie to pregnant patients in his home state. 👍🏼#LicensetoDiscriminate

Just wrapped: Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), a former Bible camp director behind perennial congressional GOP-led efforts to criminalize a common medical procedure used after miscarriages and during second-trimester abortions. Now up: anti-trans Vicky Hartzler. #LicensetoDiscriminate

Hartzler quoting Dr. King to make the case for policies like this. #LicensetoDiscriminate rewire.news/article/2017/0…

Now begins the parade of health-care providers allegedly coerced into performing abortions. #LicensetoDiscriminate

Now seems like a good time to bring up @amylittlefield's reporting on the real stakes -- and consequences -- of mixing religion and health care. #LicensetoDiscriminate @Rewire_News rewire.news/article/2017/0…

The #LicensetoDiscriminate endangers patients' lives, but if that's not compelling enough for this crowd, it also endangers their future fertility. @amylittlefield @Rewire_News

Becket Fund executive director name checks Little Sisters, so you better believe this new HHS division will be making it harder to access contraception. #LicensetoDiscriminate

Reminder that the birth control benefit is already under attack. #LicensetoDiscriminate rewire.news/article/2017/1…

Reminder that this is Teresa "Contraception Doesn't Work" Manning's replacement in the HHS Title X office charged with family planning for people with low incomes. #LicensetoDiscriminate rewire.news/article/2017/0…

The event is over -- relocating to write "with" @Hegemommy even though too many states separate us! Check back later for our story on the #LicensetoDiscriminate.

Here's your @Rewire_News analysis of the #LicensetoDiscriminate. @Hegemommy rewire.news/article/2018/0…

This was really rich -- right, @amylittlefield? #LicensetoDiscriminate