S 47 119th Congress
Defense of Conscience in Health Care Act
A bill to provide for regulations on protecting statutory conscience rights in health care.
Official Title as Introduced Congress.gov
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Bill journey
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Introduction Congress.gov
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate.
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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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| 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 |
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Congressional Research Service
CRS summary
Defense of Conscience in Health Care ActThis 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.
Official documents
Text versions
- Introduced in SenateJan 9, 2025