U.S. doctors may soon be punished if they only consider two genders

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed that medical practitioners be reprimanded if they believe there are only two genders based on a person's biological sex.

The proposed policy is another step by the department in protecting the rights of transgender individuals who reportedly often experience discrimination at the hands of doctors. It also aims to abolish discrimination altogether, in accordance to the Affordable Care Act of the current administration.

According to the law, any individual should not be denied to receive benefits or services because of sex, color, nationality, disability and age. The related federal laws, which have been in effect for decades, also prohibit any individual from being denied benefits in any health program or federally funded activity on the basis of the factors mentioned above.

In the past, the interpretation of sex was primarily rooted on the individual's biological features, but now the Office of Civil Rights has included gender identity and sex stereotypes as bases for a person's sex.

Gender identity is defined as "an individual's internal sense of gender, which may be different from an individual's sex assigned at birth," Gospel Herald reported, meaning that medical practitioners and even institutions may suffer legal penalties if they refuse to perform 'sex reassignment surgeries', and/or other 'gender transition' for people who identify themselves as transsexual.

Several conservative groups have already criticised the move by the HHS, including the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Jonathan Scruggs, who is a legal counsel for the human rights group, said that the proposition was only given because the people responsible want to push their own agenda.

"The government should not be in the business of trying to redefine sex. HHS is supposed to apply the law faithfully, not go beyond the terms of the law," Scruggs added.