II 

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. 

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 Restoration Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDING. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) religious freedom and liberty of conscience 

9 are inalienable rights protected by 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 free sterilization and all Food and Drug Administra7 tion-approved contraceptives, including drugs that 

8 many believe induce abortions; 

9 (3) the mandate’s exemption for ‘‘religious em10 ployers’’ excludes those religious organizations, in11 cluding charities, hospitals, schools or soup kitchens, 

12 that hire or serve individuals who do not share their 

13 religious tenets; 

14 (4) that narrow exemption, unprecedented in 

15 Federal law, excludes thousands of religiously affili16 ated hospitals, schools, charities, and businesses; 

17 and 

18 (5) despite receiving thousands of comments 

19 protesting the absurdly narrow exemption, the De20 partment of Health and Human Services nonetheless 

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

22 broaden the exemption but would instead give reli23 gious institutions an additional year to ‘‘adapt’’ their 

24 consciences to the mandate. 


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1 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 

2 ACT. 

3 Section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 300gg–13) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(d) CONSCIENCE PROTECTIONS.— 

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

8 issued pursuant to subsection (a)(4), or any other 

9 provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable 

10 Health Care Act, or the amendments made by that 

11 Act (Public Law 110–148), shall— 

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

13 offer, provide, or purchase coverage for a con14 traceptive or sterilization service, or related 

15 education or counseling, to which that indi16 vidual or entity is opposed on the basis of reli17 gious belief; or 

18 ‘‘(B) require any individual or entity op19 posed by reason of religious belief to provide 

20 coverage of a contraceptive or sterilization serv21 ice or to engage in government-mandated 

22 speech regarding such a service. 

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

24 Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, 

25 or the amendments made by that Act (Public Law 

26 110–148), and no regulations or guidelines issued 


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1 under such Act (or amendments) shall be construed 

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

3 other sanction, or to otherwise disadvantage an indi4 vidual or entity on the basis of a religiously based 

5 decision made by that individual or entity to not 

6 offer, provide, or purchase coverage for a contracep7 tive or sterilization service, or to engage in govern8 ment-mandated speech regarding such services.’’. 

Æ 


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