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U.S. PROTECTION OF CONSCIENCE LAWS
Public
Health Service Act
(The "Church amendment" of 1973)
42 USC § 300a-7(b).
Prohibition of public
officials and public authorities from imposition of certain requirements
contrary to religious beliefs or moral convictions.
The receipt of any grant,
contract, loan, or loan guarantee under the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 201 et seq.), the Community Mental Health Centers Act (42 U.S.C.
2689 et seq.), or the Developmental Disabilities Services and Facilities
Construction Act (42 U.S.C. 6000 et seq.) by any individual or entity does
not authorize any court or any public official or other public authority
to require -
(1) such individual
to perform or assist in the performance of any sterilization procedure
or abortion if his performance or assistance in the performance of such
procedure or abortion would be
contrary to his religious beliefs or moral convictions; or
(2) such entity to -
(A) make its facilities
available for the performance of any sterilization procedure or
abortion if the performance
of such procedure or abortion in such facilities is prohibited
by the entity on the basis of
religious beliefs or moral convictions,or
(B) provide any personnel
for the performance or assistance in the performance of any
sterilization procedure or abortion
if the performance or assistance in the performance of such
procedures or abortion by such personnel would be contrary to the religiousbeliefs
or moral convictions of such personnel.
42 U.S.C. 300a-7 (c)
Discrimination prohibition.
(1) No entity which receives
a grant, contract, loan, or loan guarantee under the Public Health Service
Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), the Community Mental Health Centers Act (42
U.S.C. 2689 et seq.), or the Developmental Disabilities Services and Facilities
Construction Act (42 U.S.C. 6000 et seq.) after June 18, 1973, may -
(A) discriminate
in the employment, promotion, or termination of employment of any
physician or other health care
personnel, or
(B) discriminate in the extension
of staff or other privileges to any physician or other health
care personnel, because he performed or assisted in the performance of
a lawful sterilization
procedure or abortion, because he refused to perform or assist in the
performance of such a procedure
or abortion on the grounds that his performance or assistance
in the performance of the procedure or abortion would be contrary to his
religious beliefs or moral convictions,
or because of his religious beliefs or moral convictions
respecting sterilization procedures or abortions.
(2) No entity which receives
after July 12, 1974, a grant or contract for biomedical or behavioral research
under any program administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services
may -
(A) discriminate
in the employment, promotion, or termination of employment of any
physician or other health care
personnel, or
(B) discriminate in the extension
of staff or other privileges to any physician or other health
care personnel, because he performed or assisted in the performance of
any lawful health
service or research activity, because he refused to perform or assist in
the performance
of any such service or activity on the grounds that his performance or
assistance in the performance
of such service or activity would be contrary to his religious
beliefs or moral convictions, or because of his religious beliefs or moral
convictions respecting any such
service or activity.
42 U.S.C. 300a-7 (d).
Individual rights respecting
certain requirements contrary to religious beliefs or moral convictions.
No individual shall be required
to perform or assist in the performance of any part of a health service
program or research activity funded in whole or in part under a program
administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services if his performance
or assistance in the performance of such part of such program or activity
would be contrary to his religious beliefs or moral convictions.
42 U.S.C. 300a-7 (e).
Prohibition on entities
receiving Federal grant, etc., from discriminating against applicants for
training or study because of refusal of applicant to participate on religious
or moral grounds.
No entity which receives,
after September 29, 1979, any grant, contract, loan, loan guarantee, or
interest subsidy under the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et
seq.), the Community Mental Health Centers Act (42 U.S.C. 2689 et seq.),
or the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (42
U.S.C. 6000 et seq.) may deny admission or otherwise discriminate against
any applicant (including applicants for internships and residencies) for
training or study because of the applicant's reluctance, or willingness,
to counsel, suggest, recommend, assist, or in any way participate in the
performance of abortions or sterilizations contrary to or consistent with
the applicant's religious beliefs or moral convictions.
Current
Language
Governing Contraceptive
Coverage
for Federal Employees
Treasury/Postal appropriations
bill for Fiscal Year 2000: In implementing this section, any plan that
enters into or renews a contract under this section may not subject any
individual to discrimination on the basis that the individual refuses to
prescribe or otherwise provide for contraceptives because such activities
would be contrary to the individualís religious beliefs or moral
convictions.
Medicare:
Counselling and Referral
42 U.S.C. § 1395w-22(j)(3)(B).
Conscience protection.
Subparagraph (A) [prohibiting
interference with provider advice to enrollees] shall not be construed
as requiring a Medicare + Choice plan to provide, reimburse for, or provide
coverage of a counselling or referral service if the Medicare + Choice
organization offering the plan --
(i) objects to the
provision of such service on moral or religious grounds; and
(ii) in the manner and through
the written instrumentalities such Medicare + Choice organization deems
appropriate, makes available information on its policies regarding such
service to prospective enrollees before or during enrolment and to enrollees
within 90 days after the date that the organization or plan adopts a change
in policy regarding such a counseling or referral service.
Medicaid:
Counselling and Referral
42 U.S.C. § 1396u-2(b)(3).
Construction.
Subparagraph (A) [protecting
enrollee-provider communications] shall not be construed as requiring a
Medicaid managed care organization to provide, reimburse for, or provide
coverage of, a counselling or referral service if the organization --
(i) objects to the provision
of such service on moral or religious grounds; and (ii) in the manner
and through the written instrumentalities such organization deems appropriate,
makes available information on its policies regarding such service to prospective
enrollees before or during enrolment and to enrollees within 90 days after
the date that the organization adopts a change in policy regarding such
a counselling or referral service...
Protecting
Health Care Entities
that Decline to Perform
or Refer for Abortions
for Any Reason (1996)
42 USC § 238n.
Abortion-related
discrimination in governmental activities regarding training and licensing
of physicians.
The Federal Government,
and any State or local government that receives Federal financial assistance,
may not subject any health care entity to discrimination on the basis that
-
(1) the entity refuses to
undergo training in the performance of induced abortions, to require or
provide such training, to perform such abortions, or to provide referrals
for such training or such abortions;
(2) the entity refuses to
make arrangements for any of the activities specified in paragraph (1);
or
(3) the entity attends (or
attended) a post-graduate physician training program, or any other program
of training in the health professions, that does not (or did not) perform
induced abortions or require, provide or refer for training in the performance
of induced abortions, or make arrangements for the provision of such training.
Regulation
Prohibiting Compulsory Advocacy
48 CFR § 1609.7001
(c)(7).
... Providers, health care
workers, or health plan sponsoring organizations are not required to discuss
treatment options that they would not ordinarily discuss in their customary
course of practice because such options are inconsistent with their professional
judgment or ethical, moral or religious beliefs.
Legal
Services Corporation on Abortion
42 U.S.C. § 2996f(b).
Limitations on uses.
No funds made available
by the [Legal Services] Corporation under this subchapter, either by grant
or contract, may be used ... (8) to provide legal assistance with respect
to any proceeding or litigation which seeks to procure a nontherapeutic
abortion or to compel any individual or institution to perform an abortion,
or assist in the performance of an abortion, or provide facilities for
the performance of an abortion, contrary to the religious beliefs or moral
convictions of such individual or institution....
Civil
Rights Restoration Act
20 U.S.C. §1688.
Neutrality with respect to abortion.
Nothing in this chapter
shall be construed to require or prohibit any person, or public or private
entity, to provide or pay for any benefit or service, including the use
of facilities, related to an abortion.
Foreign
Aid for Family Planning
H.R. 3422, Foreign Operations
Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2000 (Cong. Record, Nov. 17, 1999, Page
H12312).
...Provided further, that
in awarding grants for natural family planning under section 104 of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 no applicant shall be discriminated against
because of such applicantís religious or conscientious commitment
to offer only natural family planning...
Exemption
from Vaccination Requirement
8 U.S.C. §1182 (g).
Bond and condition for admission of alien excludable on health-related
grounds.
The Attorney General may
waive the application of... subsection (a)(1)(A)(ii) of this section [requiring
documentation that one has been vaccinated against certain diseases] in
the case of any alien... under such circumstances as the Attorney General
provides by regulation, with respect to whom the requirement of such a
vaccination would be contrary to the alienís religious beliefs or moral
convictions...
Refusal
to Participate in Executions
or in Prosecution of
a Capital Crime
18 U.S.C. §3597 (b).
Excuse of an employee
on moral or religious grounds.
No employee of any State
department of corrections, the United States Department of Justice, the
Federal Bureau of Prisons, or the United States Marshals Service, and no
employee providing services to that department, or bureau, or service under
contract shall be required, as a condition of that employment or contractual
obligation, to be in attendance at or participatie in any prosecution or
execution under this section if such participation is contrary to the moral
or religious convictions of the employee. In this subsection, "participation
in executions" includes personal preparation of the condemned individual
and the apparatus used for execution and supervision of the activities
of other personnel in carrying out such activities.
[Also see virtually identical
provision at 21 U.S.C. §848 (r)]
State of Illinois Protection of Conscience Laws
Commentary: Illinois Health Care Professionals &
Facilities Right Of Conscience
The Catholic Medical Association of Illinios
ANNOUNCEMENTS!
All Catholic physicians, dentists, and medical students are welcome.
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