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US House of Representatives Passes Pro-Life Conscience Protection
Thursday, July 14, 2016
The US House of Representatives voted to protect the rights of all health care entities who refuse to participate in abortion.
The "
Conscience Protection Act
", co-sponsored by Reps. Diane Black and John Fleming, passed by a vote of 245 to 182 and seeks to ensure that
federal, state and local governments that receive federal health care funding do not punish health providers, including health insurers, for refusing to participate in or provide coverage for abortions.
Three pro-life Democrats voted for the bill--
Reps. Dan Lipinski, Collin Peterson and
Henry Cuellar
with pro-abortion Republican Richard Hanna voting against it.
The legislation is in response to flagrant violations of federal law, known as the Weldon Amendment which protects pro-life conscience rights, by the Obama administration. Specifically, the decision by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to let stand a mandate by the
California Department of Managed Health Care
to discriminate against health plans that exclude abortion--including those plans used by Catholic dioceses--and require that all health care insurance plans include elective abortion incensed Members of Congress.
The California decision ignored the conscience rights of health care insurers to not include elective abortion in their plans and of individuals and organizations by forcing them to choose to either violate their own conscience by contributing to a health plan that subsidizes abortion on demand or forgo health care coverage. New York followed California's action and also mandated
that all plans that previously excluded abortion must now cover abortion, including those used by Catholics churches and other faith-based entities who oppose the destructive act of abortion.
The Conscience Protection Act seeks to protect the rights of 'h
ealth care providers' which is defined broadly and includes physicians or other health professionals, hospitals, health systems, HMOs, social services providers, health care training programs, insurance issuers, insurance plans, or sponsors or administrators of health plans.
The legislation will provide victims of these mandates a right of action to address the discrimination in court
but does not prevent health providers from participating in abortion and does nothing to block access to abortion.
Individuals
in the health profession
who have faced discrimination for acting on their pro-life convictions were also motivators for the bill. These included
Cathy DeCarlo who was forced by Mt. Sinai Hospital to assist in a dismemberment abortion; nine nurses at Nassau University Medical Center were suspended for refusing to take part in an abortion; two women applying for nurse residency programs at Vanderbilt who were told they would have to agree to participate in abortion to be accepted into the program; and a decision in 2011 by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to require nurses to undergo training to facilitate abortions or risk losing their jobs.
Republican pro-life Members of Congress had argued with HHS two weeks ago that its decision in regards to California was a violation of
the Weldon Amendment,
first enacted in 2005,
which states that
no HHS funds "
may be made available to a federal agency or program, or to a state or local government, if such an agency, program, or government subjects any institutional or individual health care entity to discrimination on the basis that the health care entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer to abortions."
HHS refused to honor the Weldon Amendment.
Former Congressman Dave Weldon, a medical doctor,
returned to Washington outraged at the
violations of the law he authored by the Obama administration and
explained
the legislative history and intent of his amendment:
"
Recognizing that the abortion lobby's relentless campaign knows no limits, we
drafted the amendment to cover a wide universe of entities. Nurses, doctors,
hospitals, even health plans themselves are covered entities under my amendment.
"We never limited the protection to those with religious, moral or conscience
objections. In fact, in my experience as a physician the majority of health professionals who claim to support Roe v Wade always say to me that they would never want to be affiliated with doing an abortion. They too would be protected if the
administration would do their duty to enforce the law.
"I authored this amendment to protect FREEDOM for people to
provide
health care free from abortion and FREEDOM for people to
access
health care and coverage free from the scourge of abortion."
Co-sponsor of the Conscience Protection Act,
Rep. Diane Black
, a nurse by profession, delivered strong remarks about the urgent need to protect conscience rights:
"Congress must step in to clarify and strengthen our laws so that the conscience rights of every American are protected - because...
if we lose the right to live according to our own convictions, particularly on a matter as deeply affecting as abortion, we don't have much left - do we?
"After all, it was Thomas Jefferson who reminded us that "
No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority."
A number of Members recalled
the words of President Obama
who in a speech at Notre Dame in 2009 said
, "
Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion"
but whose office issued a
statement
threatening to veto the bill if it reaches his desk. It includes the following:
"This bill would unduly limit women's health care choices by allowing a broadly-
defined set of health providers (including secular sponsors of employer-based health coverage) to decline to provide abortion coverage based on any objections. The legislation would also permanently authorize alternative methods of enforcing these provisions that would inevitably lead to confusion."
House Speaker Paul Ryan
took to the floor to voice his passionate support for pro-life conscience protection and for religious freedom. His statement included:
"... I think we can all agree, that in this country, no one should be forced to perform an abortion. I know we disagree about when life begins. I know we disagree about what government should do about it. And however strongly I hold my beliefs, I know my friends on the other side feel just as strongly. I respect those disagreements.
"But whoever you are--whatever you believe--I think this is one thing we can all agree on:
No one should be forced to violate their conscience--least of all by the federal government.
That's all this bill says. The federal government--or anyone who receives taxpayer dollars--cannot discriminate against health care providers who do not perform abortions. And if they do discriminate, this bill says the victims will have two avenues of relief: Either, file a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services. Or, file a civil suit in court. That's all this bill does."
"There is nothing more fulfilling than to live out our faith. We want all people--of all faiths--to live freely in our country. But we can live out our faith only if our
government respects our faith. And that's why we need to pass this bill."
The other three Members of Republican Leadership also spoke in support of the bill:
Leader Kevin McCarthy
,
Whip Steve Scalise
and
Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers
.
A number of Members who are also physicians spoke in support of the bill including co-sponsor
Rep. John Fleming
who said,
"Passage of the Conscience Protection Act, H.R. 4828 and S.304, was a
victory for pro-life doctors and nurses, and affirms the decisions of hospitals, insurance providers and plans that decline to facilitate or participate in abortion.
Even more than that, my bill today provides a strong protection for the medical profession: the federal government must respect your choice not to participate in the destruction of human life. Physicians should never be threatened with the loss of a job or their license for choosing not to dismember, poison, or destroy human life."
Co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, Rep. Chris Smith, issued a
statement
after the vote stating in part,
"In an unconscionable abuse of power, for almost two years the state of
California has forced all insurance plans under its purview--and the people and
institutions that pay the premiums--to subsidize abortion on demand.
"
The House vote today is about protecting those who have been ordered to violate their deeply held convictions and pay for, or participate in, abortion
--the killing of unborn children by hideous dismemberment procedures, toxic compounds or chemical poisoning."
Pro-abortion Members refused to discuss the 'right to choose' of health care professionals while erroneously insisting
that the bill "uses the premise of religion to allow further discrimination against women" and was "really aimed at denying healthcare".
Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life,
praised
the U.S. House of Representatives today for passing the Conscience Protection Act:
"Given our own Supreme Court case against the HHS mandate, we at Priests for Life understand very well the dangers that freedom of conscience faces in our nation today. It is crucial that pro-life legislation like the Conscience Protection Act be made permanent law. No one should be forced to participate in abortion for any reason, nor should any entity be coerced into providing health insurance that covers abortion. I'm confident the Senate will also see the wisdom of this bill."
The legislation now goes to the Senate for consideration.
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