HYDE-SMITH COSPONSORS CONSCIENCE PROTECTION ACT

Measure Would Protect Healthcare Providers Who Choose Not to Take Part in Abortions

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today announced her support for legislation to protect healthcare providers who decline to take part in abortion or abortion coverage.

Hyde-Smith has joined as a cosponsor of the Conscience Protection Act (S.301), which would protect healthcare providers, health insurance plans and other entities from government discrimination if they elect not to participate in abortions due to religious or moral beliefs.  

“The Conscience Protection Act would ensure no one is coerced to participate in abortions or to provide abortion coverage.  Believing in the sanctity of life also shouldn’t expose anyone to discrimination or penalties for declining to support abortion,” Hyde-Smith said.

S.301 would codify the prohibition against federal, state, and local governments that receive federal health-related funding from penalizing or discriminating against a health provider who refuses to be involved in abortions or abortion coverage.

It would also allow health-care providers, such as doctors and nurses, to pursue legal action if they are coerced into participating in abortions or if they face discrimination at work for refusing to perform abortions.

This legislation, which was introduced by Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.), is supported by the National Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony List.  The bill is pending in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Along with cosponsoring S.301, Hyde-Smith has also cosponsored Senator Roger Wicker’s No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act (S.184).  She joined the fight for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to enforce regulations to bar Title X Family Planning grantees from co-locating with abortion clinics, or from promoting, counseling, or referring clients for abortions.  

The Senator signed an amicus brief in May that encouraged the Supreme Court to consider Gee v. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Inc. et al, a case that directly affects Mississippi’s efforts to prohibit Medicaid funding from going to any healthcare provider that performs abortions. 

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