Nebraska bill would allow “medical consciousness objection”
What LB 810 means for healthcare
Legislative Bill 810 would allow medical providers to refuse to perform non-emergency procedures if they have a moral, religious, or ethical objection to it. In the context of the bill, “medical providers” include individuals from doctors, nurses and pharmacists to mental health counselors and nursing home staffers.
LB 810 extends to medical practices, clinics and hospitals refusing treatment and gives businesses and health insurance companies the right of refusal to pay for treatments. The bill includes lengthy protection of providers who employ medical consciousness objection from lawsuits, criminal charges, and professional ethics charges.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Dave Murman from Glenvil, who explains that the bill is specific to procedures, not patients and does not give freedom for providers to discriminate against patients.
The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics states that physicians have the ethical responsibility to not discriminate on the basis of “race, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity, or other personal or social characteristics that are not clinically relevant to the individual’s care,” but doctors can refuse to provide treatment in limited circumstances. These circumstances occur when the treatment is “incompatible with the physician’s deeply held personal, religious or moral beliefs.”
Critics of the bill argue that it is simply a way to target abortion rights and the LGBTQ+ community. The bill would allow for medical providers to refuse to perform abortions and provide gender-affirming hormone treatments.
The bill appeared before the Nebraska Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee on Friday, Feb. 10. During testimonies, Jane Seu, acting as legal and policy counsel of the ACLU, stated the bill would, “provide an unbridled license to health care professionals to discriminate against their patients for almost any reason.” She also argued that negative impacts would disproportionately affect individuals in rural areas where there are limited choices of medical providers.
Similar legislature was passed in Arkansas in 2021 and similar bills have been introduced to legislatures in Montana and Idaho this year.
Related bills currently undergoing the legislative process in the Nebraska Unicameral include Legislative Bill 626, the “Nebraska Heartbeat Act,” Legislative Bill 574, the “Let Them Grow Act,” and Legislative Bill 575, the Sports and Spaces Act.” LB 626 would ban abortions after six weeks of gestational age, with exceptions for health concerns. LB 574 would prevent gender altering procedures for individuals under 19 including surgical procedures, hormone treatment and puberty blockers. LB 575 would effectively restrict transgender students from entering school bathrooms and locker rooms or participating on school sports teams based on their gender identity.
By: Aubrey Benton