Bill > S1756

This bill seeks to amend the Public Health Service Act to protect healthcare entities and professionals who do not want to participate in abortion-related services by creating strong legal safeguards against discrimination. The bill establishes comprehensive protections for a wide range of healthcare entities, including individual medical professionals, hospitals, insurance providers, medical education programs, and health insurance plans, ensuring they cannot be penalized, retaliated against, or discriminated against for declining to provide, perform, refer for, pay for, or participate in abortion services. The legislation creates a private right of action, allowing affected parties to seek legal remedies if their conscience rights are violated, and empowers the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights to receive and investigate complaints related to potential violations of conscience protections. The bill references multiple existing federal conscience protection laws and aims to strengthen their implementation by providing clear enforcement mechanisms, including the potential termination of federal financial assistance for entities found to be in violation. The legislation is rooted in historical principles of protecting individual conscience rights, drawing on quotes from Thomas Jefferson and citing recent legal developments like the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, which eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion. Notably, the bill explicitly states that these conscience protections do not prevent healthcare entities from voluntarily choosing to provide abortion services and do not interfere with emergency medical treatment requirements.

Health and Social Services

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1756/all-info