The Latest: California also suing over Trump health rule

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on states suing the Trump administration over a rule allowing medical providers to cite religious beliefs in declining to perform abortions (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

California has joined nearly two dozen states and municipalities in suing the federal government to stop a new rule that lets health care clinicians decline to provide abortions and other services that conflict with their moral or religious beliefs.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit Tuesday in San Francisco that calls the rule unlawful, reckless and contradictory to laws that seek to protect patients from discrimination and ensure access to care.

The lawsuit says the rule effectively authorizes discrimination and could curb access to health care for LGBTQ residents, among others.

Twenty-three states and municipalities brought a similar lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in New York.

The city of San Francisco sued over the regulation on May 2, hours after President Donald Trump announced it.

11:25 a.m.

Nearly two dozen states and municipalities are suing the federal government to stop a new rule letting health care clinicians object to providing abortions and other services that conflict with their moral or religious beliefs.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court asks a judge to block a rule by the Department of Health and Human Services that is scheduled to take effect in July.

The department has said the rule requires hospitals, universities, clinics and other entities that receive federal funding to certify compliance with some 25 federal laws protecting conscience and religious rights.

Most laws pertain to medical procedures such as abortion, sterilization and assisted suicide.

The suit is being brought by Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; the District of Columbia; Hawaii; Chicago, Cook County and the state of Illinois; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Nevada; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York City and state; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Vermont; Virginia; and Wisconsin.