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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2043 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2043

   To amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to provide 
  religious conscience protections for individuals and organizations.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 30, 2012

   Mr. Rubio introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
   To amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to provide 
  religious conscience protections for individuals and organizations.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 
2012''.

SEC. 2. FINDING.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) religious freedom and liberty of conscience are 
        inalienable rights protected by the Declaration of Independence 
        and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution;
            (2) on August 1, 2011, the Department of Health and Human 
        Services issued a mandate requiring individual and group health 
        plans to cover free sterilization and all Food and Drug 
        Administration-approved contraceptives, including drugs that 
        many believe induce abortions;
            (3) the mandate's exemption for ``religious employers'' 
        excludes those religious organizations, including charities, 
        hospitals, schools or soup kitchens, that hire or serve 
        individuals who do not share their religious tenets;
            (4) that narrow exemption, unprecedented in Federal law, 
        excludes thousands of religiously affiliated hospitals, 
        schools, charities, and businesses; and
            (5) despite receiving thousands of comments protesting the 
        absurdly narrow exemption, the Department of Health and Human 
        Services nonetheless announced on January 20, 2012, that it 
        would not broaden the exemption but would instead give 
        religious institutions an additional year to ``adapt'' their 
        consciences to the mandate.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT.

    Section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-13) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Conscience Protections.--
            ``(1) In general.--No guideline or regulation issued 
        pursuant to subsection (a)(4), or any other provision of the 
        Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, or the 
        amendments made by that Act (Public Law 110-148), shall--
                    ``(A) require any individual or entity to offer, 
                provide, or purchase coverage for a contraceptive or 
                sterilization service, or related education or 
                counseling, to which that individual or entity is 
                opposed on the basis of religious belief; or
                    ``(B) require any individual or entity opposed by 
                reason of religious belief to provide coverage of a 
                contraceptive or sterilization service or to engage in 
                government-mandated speech regarding such a service.
            ``(2) Rule of construction.--Nothing in the Patient 
        Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, or the amendments 
        made by that Act (Public Law 110-148), and no regulations or 
        guidelines issued under such Act (or amendments) shall be 
        construed to authorize the imposition of a fine, penalty, or 
        other sanction, or to otherwise disadvantage an individual or 
        entity on the basis of a religiously based decision made by 
        that individual or entity to not offer, provide, or purchase 
        coverage for a contraceptive or sterilization service, or to 
        engage in government-mandated speech regarding such 
        services.''.
                                 <all>
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