Rachel N. Morrison
Fellow
Rachel N. Morrison is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s HHS Accountability Project. An attorney, her legal and policy work focuses on religious liberty, health care rights of conscience, the right to life, nondiscrimination, and civil rights.
Rachel N. Morrison is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s HHS Accountability Project. An attorney, her legal and policy work focuses on religious liberty, health care rights of conscience, the right to life, nondiscrimination, and civil rights.
Before joining EPPC, Ms. Morrison served as an Attorney Advisor and Special Assistant to General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she focused on religious discrimination issues and was a member of the General Counsel’s Religious Discrimination Work Group. Before that, she served as Litigation Counsel for Americans United for Life and as a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, defending the right to life and religious freedom for all. She also clerked on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Ms. Morrison’s legal analysis has been published in the Seton Hall Law Review, the Pepperdine Law Review, and the Ave Maria Law Review, as well as various other print media outlets.
Ms. Morrison earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She received her B.A. in Mathematics and Speech Communication, summa cum laude, from Whitworth University (Spokane, WA). She is a member of the District of Columbia and the Washington State bars.
Ms. Morrison and her husband live in Washington, D.C.
Department of Veterans Affairs Interim Final Rule on Abortion
Rachel N. Morrison
Legal challenges to the IFR are possible, including on the grounds that the IFR exceeds the VA’s statutory authority and there is no “good cause” to issue an IFR and short-circuit the normal rulemaking process.
Articles
The Federalist Society / October 18, 2022
EPPC Scholars Submit Public Comment Opposing Veterans Affairs Rule Requiring Abortion Benefits
Rachel N. Morrison
The VA’s claim that abortion under the IFR is ‘needed’ and ‘medically necessary and appropriate’ is arbitrary and capricious. Abortion is not healthcare, abortion harms women, and women do not need abortion to succeed.
Articles
Federal Register / October 11, 2022
Businesses Should Think Twice About Abortion Benefits
Rachel N. Morrison
Corporations’ abortion travel benefits may constitute pregnancy discrimination and disability discrimination.
Articles
FOX News / September 21, 2022
EPPC Scholars Submit Comment Opposing Proposed Title IX Rule
Rachel N. Morrison
On September 12, EPPC Fellow Rachel N. Morrison and Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow Mary Rice Hasson submitted a public comment opposing a proposed rule…
PDF / September 13, 2022
HHS Imposes Transgender Mandate in Health Care
Rachel N. Morrison
In accord with the Biden administration’s “health equity” and gender identity policy priorities, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed new nondiscrimination regulations under Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act .
Articles
The Federalist Society / September 8, 2022
The Medical Community Should Care About Biden’s Proposed Title IX Regulations
Rachel N. Morrison
HS is using a nondiscrimination law to push a medical standard of care.
Articles
National Review Online / August 31, 2022
Biden Education Department’s Fake Punt on Women’s Sports
Rachel N. Morrison
Nowhere do the proposed regulations explicitly state that participation in sex-specific sports must (or may) be based on biological sex
Articles
Newsweek / August 9, 2022
Department of Education Proposes Title IX Rule with Opportunity for Public Comment
Rachel N. Morrison
In line with the Biden administration’s equity and gender identity policy priorities, the Department of Education (ED) has proposed new regulations on Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs and activities.
Articles
The Federalist Society Blog / July 26, 2022