Defense of Conscience in Health Care Act
Latest action · Jan 9, 2025 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.
- IntroducedJan 9, 2025
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Defense of Conscience in Health Care Act
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue a final rule on protecting statutory conscience rights in health care that is identical or equivalent to the rule titled Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority, which was scheduled to take effect on July 22, 2019, but was vacated by courts.
Federal law generally prohibits discrimination based on conscience or religious beliefs with respect to federally funded health care programs, including prohibiting recipients of certain federal funding from requiring health care providers to take actions that they find religiously or morally objectionable (e.g., providing referrals for abortions).
In 2019, HHS issued a final rule revising the applicable regulations, including imposing certification and cooperation requirements, as well as establishing additional enforcement provisions and penalties. However, this rule was later vacated by federal courts and never took effect. In 2024, HHS issued another final rule that generally applied a pre-2019 enforcement framework while also maintaining certain aspects of the 2019 rule (e.g., specifically designating HHS' Office for Civil Rights as the entity with the authority to handle relevant complaints).
The bill requires HHS to reinstate the 2019 rule in its entirety.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee | Referred Jan 9, 2025 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jan 9, 2025Introduced in Senate
- Jan 9, 2025Read 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.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 2874 | Defense of Conscience in Health Care Act | Identical bill | Apr 10, 2025 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to provide for regulations on protecting statutory conscience rights in health care.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Defense of Conscience in Health Care Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Abortion
- Administrative law and regulatory procedures
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Employment discrimination and employee rights
- Health
- Health personnel
- Health programs administration and funding
- Higher education
- Medicaid
- Medical education
- Medical ethics
- Medical research
- Medicare
- Religion
- Sex and reproductive health
- State and local government operations
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jan 9, 2025Introduced in Senate
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; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
