Following is the statement of Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD, president of the American Psychological Association, in response to a federal court ruling unconstitutional the administration's "conscience rule," which would have allowed health care providers, insurers and employers to refuse to provide or pay for services including abortion, sterilization or assisted suicide:

"The American Psychological Association applauds this decision because this rule could have jeopardized the health of some of our most vulnerable populations, including women, LGBT people and people with HIV or AIDS," said APA President Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD. "Health care providers' religious- and conscience-based right to act according to their beliefs is already enshrined in law. This administration needs to expand access to health care, not make it easier to block people from essential medical procedures."

Davis was responding to a ruling by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan, who declared the rule unconstitutional in a 147-page decision stemming from a lawsuit brought by New York and nearly two dozen other states and municipalities. The rule, which would have allowed denial of medical procedures or coverage on moral or religious grounds, had been set to go into effect later this month.