A bill that would protect health care providers’ freedom to opt-out of abortion mandates they find objectionable has once again been introduced in Congress.
“This bill is needed to give health care providers the right to provide medical care without violating their deeply held beliefs,” Sen. James Lankford, sponsor of the bill in the Senate, stated on Friday.
The Conscience Protection Act would protect health care providers from federal, state, and local abortion mandates if they conscientiously object to assisting with abortions. It would also protect religious employers from having to cover elective abortions in their health plans, and establishes a “right of action” for all entities if they believe their religious beliefs on the matter are violated.
The bill was introduced in Congress last year and passed the House 245-182, but did not receive a vote in the Senate.
Its sponsors say that doctors religiously objecting to abortion are not sufficiently protected from abortion mandates. Medical professionals must file a grievance with the civil rights office at the Department of Health and Human Services, and some complaints reportedly sit undecided for months or years.
Some states have already been forcing religious employers to offer abortion coverage and have coerced health providers into assisting or performing abortions.
Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), who introduced the Conscience Protection Act in the House, pointed to California and New York abortion mandates as examples of this, including the case of a New York nurse who in 2009 was forced to assist with an abortion.
California recently forced all employers, including religious groups, to cover elective abortions in their health plans. Last June, the former head of the HHS civil rights office ruled that religious groups which opposed California’s mandate were not protected and would have to comply with it.
In light of these incidents, last March leading U.S. bishops asked Congress to pass the Conscience Protection Act.
Full story at Catholic News Agency.
So sad. This kind of ancillary bill ought not be a priority—–it gives weak Republicans opportunity to claim they are really doing something!
The PRIORITY is for Congress to completely DEFUND Planned Parenthood.
There is no reason (other than political) for the taxpayers to support a non-profit politicized organization.
Get the taxpayer out of funding the abortion lobby.
Shelly you are absolutely right it’s all about the money trail. Cut the money trail and you defund Planned Parenthood. Only Almighty God can stop this senseless slaughter of the unborn. Just think close to 60 MILLION unborn baby children have been killed in America alone since Roe versus Wade made abortion legal in America in 1973. Adoption is the loving option. Pray America Pray!
Conscience protection for health care providers should be provided for those that object to abortion. Pray for doctors and all health care providers that object to taking part in a procedure that is against their belief. Pray America Pray!