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United States · Bill · S

S. 401 (117th)

Conscience Protection Act of 2021

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

24 February 2021

Last action

24 February 2021 · Introduced

Status

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Sponsors

Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK], Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC], Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC], Sen. Portman, Rob [R-OH], Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID], Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS], Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT], Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE], Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR], Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS], Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA], Sen. Cramer, Kevin [R-ND], Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS], Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY], Sen. Thune, John [R-SD], Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND], Sen. Sasse, Ben [R-NE], Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK], Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN], Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD], Sen. Lummis, Cynthia M. [R-WY], Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO], Sen. Scott, Rick [R-FL], Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT], Sen. Hagerty, Bill [R-TN], Sen. Rubio, Marco [R-FL], Sen. Blunt, Roy [R-MO], Sen. Braun, Mike [R-IN], Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR], Sen. Kennedy, John [R-LA], Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID], Sen. Cruz, Ted [R-TX]

Subjects

Healthcare

Source updated

5 December 2025

Healthcare

Summary

Conscience Protection Act of 2021 This bill provides statutory authority for certain protections for health care providers that refuse to participate in abortions based on religious beliefs or other convictions. Health care providers include individual professionals, medical facilities, health insurance organizations, and social services providers that refer clients to health care services. The federal government and entities that receive federal funding for health-related activities, including state and local governments, may not discriminate against a health care provider that refuses to be involved in, or provide coverage for, abortions. Currently, similar requirements apply to various related activities, including certain employment or personnel decisions (the Church Amendments), abortion services training (the Coats-Snowe Amendment), qualified health plans offered through health insurance exchanges, and annual appropriations bills for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies (the Weldon Amendment). The HHS Office for Civil Rights must investigate complaints of this kind of discrimination. Furthermore, HHS may terminate or reduce HHS funding for health-related activities if a person or entity fails to comply with nondiscrimination requirements. Additionally, the Department of Justice or any entity adversely affected by such discrimination may bring a civil action to obtain appropriate relief. A plaintiff does not need to seek or exhaust administrative remedies before bringing the action. A plaintiff may also bring an action, including one for money damages, against a governmental entity. In many cases, principles of sovereign immunity shield states and some localities from these kinds of actions.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

  1. 24 February 2021

    Introduced

    Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 24 February 2021

    Introduced

    Introduced in Senate

    Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in Senate (text)

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  • Introduced in Senate (text)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 24 February 2021

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

  • Introduced in Senate (PDF)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 24 February 2021

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

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  • Introduced in Senate

    summary · EN · 24 February 2021

    Open at official source

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Sponsors

Related records

Sources

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