S 183 · 116th Congress 2019–2021, ended

Conscience Protection Act of 2019

Introduced Jan 17, 2019 Originated Senate Sponsor James Lankford R-OK

Fact sheet

Latest action · Jan 17, 2019 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedJan 17, 2019
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Conscience Protection Act of 2019

This bill provides statutory authority for certain restrictions prohibiting discrimination against health care providers that refuse to perform abortions.

Specifically, the bill prohibits the federal government, as well as state and local governments that receive federal financial assistance for health-related activities, from penalizing or discriminating against a health care provider based on the provider's refusal to be involved in, or provide coverage for, abortions. Currently, similar provider nondiscrimination requirements apply to certain employment or personnel decisions (the Church Amendments), abortion services training (the Coats-Snowe Amendment), and qualified health plans offered through health insurance exchanges. Annual appropriations bills for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies have also included similar language (the Weldon Amendment).

The HHS Office for Civil Rights, in coordination with the Department of Justice (DOJ), must investigate complaints alleging discrimination based on an individual's religious belief, moral conviction, or refusal to be involved in an abortion.

DOJ or any entity adversely affected by such discrimination may obtain equitable or legal relief in a civil action. Administrative remedies do not need to be sought or exhausted prior to commencing an action or granting relief. Such an action may be brought against a governmental entity and may include money damages against such entity.

Cosponsors 25

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jan 17, 2019 to Feb 11, 2020, with 19 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
R-NEBen SasseOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-LABill CassidyOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-MSCindy Hyde-SmithOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-IDJames E. RischOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-OKJames M. InhofeOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-KSJerry MoranOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-WYJohn BarrassoOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-NDJohn HoevenOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-LAJohn KennedyOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-IAJoni ErnstOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-NDKevin CramerOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-TNMarsha BlackburnOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-WYMichael B. EnziOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-KSPat RobertsOriginalJan 17, 2019
R-OHRob PortmanOriginalJan 17, 2019
Show all 25 cosponsors

Actions 2

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Jan 17, 2019Introduced in Senate
  2. Jan 17, 2019Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
HR 2014Conscience Protection Act of 2019Identical billApr 2, 2019

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Jan 17, 2019Introduced in Senate

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.