[ad_1]
Nebraska lawmakers are following the path of other conservative states in considering a bill that would allow medical providers, facilities and insurers to cite their religious, ethical or moral beliefs in denying some medical treatments. Critics say it’s simply another way to target abortion rights and the LGBTQ community.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Dave Murman, of Glenvil, casts a wide net. The term “medical providers” covers everyone from doctors, nurses and pharmacists to mental health counselors and nursing home staffers — all of whom could refuse to perform nonemergency procedures, from abortions and gender-affirming hormone treatments to prescribing birth control — if the provider has a moral objection to it.
The bill includes nearly three pages of language protecting providers who conscientiously object to providing treatment from lawsuits, criminal charges and professional ethics charges.
VIRGINIA BILL WOULD BAN TRANSGENDER ATHLETES FROM WOMEN’S SPORTS
The bill would also allow medical practices, clinics and hospitals to refuse treatment based on conscientious objections and would allow businesses and health insurance companies to refuse to pay for treatment for the same reasons.
Murman said the measure does not give carte blanche to those providers and entities to discriminate against patients. A doctor who identifies as a Christian could not, for example, refuse to treat someone because the person is Muslim, or vice versa.
“The act is procedure specific, not patient specific,” Murman said Friday at a hearing for the bill before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.
A similar bill is being considered in Montana, and in 2021, Arkansas passed its own medical conscientious objection law. In Idaho, a bill widely seen as targeting LGBTQ residents would allow mental health therapists and counselors to refuse to treat clients if the clients’ goals or behaviors conflict with the counselor’s “sincerely held principles” narrowly advanced from…
[ad_2]
