S 1756 119th Congress
Conscience Protection Act of 2025
A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit discrimination against health care entities that do not participate in abortion, and to strengthen implementation and enforcement of Federal conscience laws.
Official Title as Introduced Congress.gov
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Bill journey
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Introduction Congress.gov
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate.
Open bill recordOfficial action Congress.gov
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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Introduced in Senate
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Introduced in Senate
A dated text-version record is available.
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Official action Congress.gov
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.
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View the complete bill journey as an accessible table
| Date and time | Record | Official detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| IntroductionIntroduced | Introduced in the Senate. | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionRead twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Senate | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionIntroduced in Senate | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 10000 | Congress.gov | |
| Text versionIntroduced in Senate | A dated text-version record is available. | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionCommittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held. | No additional detail supplied.Committee · Senate | Congress.gov |
House roll calls join only on matching Congress, legislation type, and number. Senate roll calls join only on matching source-supplied document type and number, not question text. Committee and related-measure relationships have no date in their relationship records and therefore are counted above but never placed on the chronology.
Congressional Research Service
CRS summary
Conscience Protection Act of 2025This bill explicitly prohibits penalizing health care entities (e.g., health care providers, insurers) for declining to participate in or facilitate abortion services. It also allows individuals to bring civil actions for violations of certain federal conscience laws, and it specifically authorizes Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rulemaking and enforcement relating to such laws. (In general, the existing federal conscience laws referenced in the bill prohibit entities that receive federal funds from requiring providers or patients to participate in health care services they find religiously or morally objectionable.)Specifically, the bill prohibits the federal government and entities receiving federal health-related funding (e.g., states) from penalizing health care entities that decline to provide, refer for, provide insurance coverage for, or facilitate abortions. The bill does not (1) affect federal requirements for providing emergency stabilizing treatment for pregnant women or unborn children, or (2) prevent health care entities from voluntarily participating in or providing coverage for abortions where not prohibited by law. Also, the bill authorizes individuals or entities adversely affected by a violation of a federal conscience law to bring a civil action for relief, including against state governmental entities.Additionally, the bill provides broad statutory authority for HHS to induce compliance with federal conscience laws by terminating HHS funding or referring violations to the Department of Justice for civil actions. It also explicitly authorizes HHS to issue regulations and resolve complaints under such laws. (HHS' Office for Civil Rights currently handles such complaints.)
Official documents
Text versions
- Introduced in SenateMay 14, 2025