II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2092 

To amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to provide conscience 

protections for individuals and organizations. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2012 

Mr. MANCHIN (for himself and 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 conscience protections for individuals and organizations. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Religious Freedom 

5 Protection Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) religious freedom and liberty of conscience 

9 are inalienable rights enshrined in the Declaration of 


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1 Independence and the First Amendment to the 

2 United States Constitution; 

3 (2) on August 1, 2011, the Department of 

4 Health and Human Services issued a mandate re5 quiring individual and group health plans to cover 

6 sterilization and all Food and Drug Administration 

7 approved contraceptives, including drugs that could 

8 be used to induce abortions; 

9 (3) the mandate’s exemption for ‘‘religious em10 ployers’’ is unprecedented in Federal law and ex11 cludes thousands of religious organizations, includ12 ing religiously affiliated charities, health care pro13 viders, and schools; and 

14 (4) despite receiving thousands of comments 

15 protesting the extremely narrow exemption, the De16 partment of Health and Human Services nonetheless 

17 announced on January 20, 2012, that it would not 

18 broaden the exemption but would instead give reli19 gious institutions an additional year to ‘‘adapt’’ their 

20 consciences to the mandate. 

21 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 

22 ACT. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2713 of the Public Health 

24 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–13) is amended by adding 

25 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(d) CONSCIENCE PROTECTIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No guideline, regulation, or 

3 other requirement issued by any Federal, State, or 

4 local government pursuant to subsection (a)(4), or 

5 any other provision of the Patient Protection and 

6 Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148) or the 

7 Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 

8 2010 (Public Law 111–152), or the amendments 

9 made by those Acts, shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) require any individual or entity to 

11 offer, provide, or purchase health insurance cov12 erage for a contraceptive or sterilization service, 

13 or related education or counseling, to which 

14 that individual or entity is opposed on the basis 

15 of religious belief or moral conviction; 

16 ‘‘(B) require any individual or entity that 

17 is opposed on the basis of religious belief or 

18 moral conviction to providing health insurance 

19 coverage of a contraceptive or sterilization serv20 ice to engage in government-mandated speech 

21 regarding such a service; or 

22 ‘‘(C) prohibit any group health plan or 

23 health insurance issuer from offering or pro24 viding individual or group health insurance cov25 erage that excludes coverage for a contraceptive 


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1 or sterilization service, or related education or 

2 counseling, which the individual or entity pur3 chasing the plan or coverage opposes on the 

4 basis of religious belief or moral conviction. 

5 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in the 

6 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public 

7 Law 111–148) or the Health Care and Education 

8 Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–152), 

9 or the amendments made by those Acts, and no reg10 ulations, guidelines, or other requirement issued 

11 under such Acts (or amendments) shall be construed 

12 to authorize the imposition of a fine, penalty, or 

13 other sanction, or to otherwise disadvantage any in14 dividual or entity on the basis of a religiously based 

15 or morally based decision not to offer, provide, or 

16 purchase health insurance coverage for a contracep17 tive or sterilization service, or to engage in govern18 ment mandated speech regarding such services. 

19 ‘‘(3) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—The protec20 tions of conscience contained in this subsection con21 stitute the protection of individual rights and create 

22 a private cause of action for those individuals or en23 tities protected. Any such individual or entity may 

24 assert a violation of this subsection as a claim or de25 fense in a judicial proceeding. 


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1 ‘‘(4) REMEDIES.— 

2 ‘‘(A) FEDERAL JURISDICTION.—The Fed3 eral courts shall have jurisdiction to prevent 

4 and redress actual or threatened violations of 

5 this subsection by granting all forms of legal or 

6 equitable relief, including, but not limited to, in7 junctive relief, declaratory relief, damages, 

8 costs, and attorney fees. 

9 ‘‘(B) INITIATING PARTY.—An action under 

10 this subsection may be instituted by the Attor11 ney General of the United States, or by any 

12 person or entity having standing to complain of 

13 a threatened or actual violation of this sub14 section, including, but not limited to, any actual 

15 or prospective plan sponsor, issuer, or other en16 tity offering a plan, any actual or prospective 

17 purchaser or beneficiary of a plan, and any in18 dividual or institutional health care provider. 

19 ‘‘(C) INTERIM RELIEF.—Pending final de20 termination of any action under this subsection, 

21 the court may at any time enter such restrain22 ing order or prohibitions, or take such other ac23 tions, as it deems necessary. 

24 ‘‘(5) ADMINISTRATION.—The Office for Civil 

25 Rights of the Department of Health and Human 


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1 Services is designated to receive complaints of dis2 crimination based on this subsection and coordinate 

3 the investigation of such complaints. 

4 ‘‘(6) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sub5 section, the term ‘entity’ includes a group health 

6 plan, a health insurance issuer offering group or in7 dividual health insurance coverage, and an employer 

8 or other sponsor of such plan or coverage.’’. 

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

10 subsection (a) shall be effective as if included in the enact11 ment of Public Law 111–148. 

Æ 


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