Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) recently signed a bill allowing medical personnel to refuse to conduct abortions or other practices violating their religious beliefs and conscience.
Under the Medical Ethics Defense Act, a “healthcare provider must not be required to participate in or pay for a healthcare procedure, treatment, or service that violates the conscience of the healthcare provider.”
The law further protects personnel from discrimination if they provide information “relating to an act or omission the healthcare provider reasonably believes to be a violation of this part to the healthcare provider’s employer, the attorney general and reporter, a state agency charged with protecting healthcare rights of conscience, the United States department of health and human services’ office of civil rights, or another federal agency charged with protecting healthcare rights of conscience.”
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen celebrated Lee’s signature of the bill, saying that the law protects health care professionals’ oath to “do no harm.”
“Tennessee’s MED Act ensures that health care professionals are not forced to participate in procedures that violate their ethical, moral, or religious beliefs,” Chafuen said in a statement. “ADF commends Sen. Pro Tempore Ferrell Haile, Rep. Bryan Terry, and the Tennessee Legislature for their fortitude, and we thank Gov. Lee for standing with health care professionals and the patients they serve by enacting the MED Act. We also thank Tennessee Right to Life for its monumental work on this effort. Now, Tennessee health care heroes are free to care for all patients in a compassionate, ethical manner.”
