Doctors Could Refuse Patients Over Religious Beliefs Under New Bill

A new bill being advanced by Republican legislators in Iowa would allow healthcare workers and institutions to refuse medical procedures based on the religious or moral beliefs they hold.

Other Republican states have already adopted similar laws. In May, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that gave health care providers the right to opt out of treatments based on conscientious objections, while in October a law in Montana came into effect to broaden medical refusal for opposition to prescribing cannabis, assisted dying and gender-affirming care.

Senate Study Bill 3006, which was introduced to Iowa's legislature on January 10, would make health carers immune from liability for damages if they do not wish to undertake or pay for treatments that would go against their conscience. The draft legislation was passed by a state senate subcommittee on Wednesday and will now progress for a full Judiciary committee vote.

Healthcare payors and facilities will have to list publicly the treatments they do not wish to perform based on their beliefs under the bill, which also gives the right to individual medical practitioners to refuse to participate in procedures based on their conscience. Those who do will also be protected from being fired by their employer and facing sanctions that threaten their medical license.

State-owned healthcare institutions are exempted from the provisions of the new bill, which also precludes a refusal to offer emergency medical care.

While proponents of the draft measure welcomed the protections it offered to those with religious beliefs working in the healthcare industry, critics have said it would place more emphasis on the interests of providers over those of patients at a time when many in rural Iowa lack access to good medical care.

The Iowa Catholic Conference hailed the draft legislation, stating that medical professionals "should not be forced to violate their conscience and their oath to 'do no harm.'" Its executive director, Tom Chapman, told the Des Moines Register that "the right of conscience is a fundamental right in human beings."

However, some local Democrats and activists have opposed the measure on the grounds it goes beyond an existing state law that allows medical practitioners to refuse abortions based on their beliefs.

Iowa currently bans abortions from taking place after 20 weeks of pregnancy. An attempt to bring in a six-week ban in 2023 was rejected by the state's Supreme Court.

"I have not once seen a health care worker forced to do something they don't want to do," Dr. Francesca Turner, an OBGYN at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, told The Gazette. "Pharmacists refusing prescriptions and doctors denying care, especially in rural Iowa, will only exacerbate the already dire health care crisis in our state."

Newsweek approached state Senator Jason Schultz, one of two subcommittee members advancing the bill, via email for comment on Thursday.