II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 143 

To prohibit discrimination and retaliation against individuals and health care 

entities that refuse to recommend, refer for, provide coverage for, pay 

for, provide, perform, assist, or participate in abortions. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24 (legislative day, JANUARY 3), 2013 

Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To prohibit discrimination and retaliation against individuals 

and health care entities that refuse to recommend, refer 

for, provide coverage for, pay for, provide, perform, assist, or participate in abortions. 

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 ‘‘The Health Care Pro5 vider and Hospital Conscience Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONSCIENCE PROTECTION. 

7 (a) NONDISCRIMINATION.—Neither the Federal Gov8 ernment nor a State or local government that receives 


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1 Federal financial assistance shall discriminate or retaliate 

2 against any individual or health care entity because of the 

3 refusal by the individual or health care entity to rec4 ommend, refer for, provide coverage for, pay for, provide, 

5 perform, assist, or participate in, any abortion. 

6 (b) SCOPE.—Discrimination and retaliation prohib7 ited under subsection (a) includes— 

8 (1) denial, deprivation, or disqualification in li9 censing; 

10 (2) withholding accreditations, authorizations, 

11 loans, grants, aids, assistance, benefits, or privileges; 

12 and 

13 (3) withholding authorization to expand, im14 prove, finance, or create facilities or programs. 

15 SEC. 3. JUDICIAL RELIEF. 

16 (a) CAUSE OF ACTION.—An individual or health care 

17 entity aggrieved by a violation of this Act may file a civil 

18 action in a district court of the United States. 

19 (b) REMEDIES.—In a civil action filed under sub20 section (a), a court may order any form of legal or equi21 table relief, including— 

22 (1) injunctive relief prohibiting conduct that 

23 violates this Act; and 

24 (2) an order preventing the disbursement of all 

25 or a portion of Federal financial assistance to a 


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1 State government that receives Federal financial as2 sistance until such time as the conduct prohibited by 

3 this Act has ceased. 

4 (c) ENFORCEMENT BY THE UNITED STATES.—The 

5 Attorney General may file a civil action seeking injunctive 

6 or declaratory relief to enforce compliance with this Act. 

7 (d) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary of Health and 

8 Human Services shall designate the Director of the Office 

9 of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human 

10 Services— 

11 (1) to receive complaints alleging a violation of 

12 this Act; and 

13 (2) to pursue the investigation of such com14 plaints in coordination with the Attorney General of 

15 the United States. 

16 SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

17 (a) SUBSEQUENTLY ENACTED FEDERAL LAW.— 

18 Federal statutory law and regulations adopted after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act are subject to the require20 ments of this Act unless such law explicitly excludes such 

21 application by reference to this Act. 

22 (b) BROAD CONSTRUCTION.—This Act shall be con23 strued in favor of broad conscience protection for individ24 uals and health care entities, to the maximum extent perVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:13 Feb 01, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.IS S143

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1 mitted by the terms of this Act and the Constitution of 

2 the United States. 

3 (c) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 

4 any application of such provision to any person or cir5 cumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 

6 of this Act and the application of the provision to any 

7 other person or circumstance shall not be affected. 

8 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) The term ‘‘Federal Government’’ means the 

11 United States, including branches, departments, 

12 agencies, instrumentalities, and officials of the 

13 United States. 

14 (2) The term ‘‘State government that receives 

15 Federal financial assistance’’ means with respect to 

16 the receipt of Federal financial assistance— 

17 (A) a State (including the District of Co18 lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and 

19 each territory and possession of the United 

20 States); 

21 (B) any county, municipality, or other gov22 ernmental entity created under the authority of 

23 such a State; and 


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1 (C) any branch, department, agency, in2 strumentality, or official of such a State or of 

3 an entity described in paragraph (B). 

4 (3) The term ‘‘individual’’ means any individual 

5 physician, nurse, other health care professional, stu6 dent in a health care professional program, or any 

7 other person engaged in training for or providing 

8 health care services. 

9 (4) The term ‘‘health care entity’’ means any 

10 hospital, provider sponsored organization, account11 able care organization, health maintenance organiza12 tion, health insurance plan, or any other health care 

13 facility, organization, or plan. 

14 (5) The term ‘‘Federal financial assistance’’ 

15 means payments by the Federal Government to 

16 cover, in whole or in part, the cost of health care 

17 items, services or benefits, or other payments, 

18 grants, or loans by the Federal Government to pro19 mote or facilitate health care services, including, but 

20 not limited to, payments provided as reimbursement 

21 for the provision of health care items or services. 

Æ 


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