I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3982 
To prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from implementing 
certain rules relating to the health insurance coverage of sterilization 
and contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 8, 2012 
Mr. LUETKEMEYER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
from implementing certain rules relating to the health 
insurance coverage of sterilization and contraceptives ap-
proved by the Food and Drug Administration. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Religious Liberty Pro-
tection Act of 2012’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Deeply embedded in the history and tradi-
tions of the United States is the protection of reli-
gious freedom. The First Amendment of the United 
States Constitution states ‘‘Congress shall make no 
law respecting an establishment of religion, or pro-
hibiting the free exercise thereof’’, and thus, it gives 
general protection for individuals’ religious beliefs 
and practices. 
(2) Repeatedly during the existence of the 
United States, Congress has reaffirmed the freedom 
of religion by enacting, among other things, title VII 
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Church amend-
ment, the Weldon amendment, section 245 of the 
Public Health Service Act, and the Religious Free-
dom Restoration Act of 1993. Through their pas-
sage, the United States has augmented religious 
freedoms and set the precedent of protection of con-
science rights. 
(3) The Weldon amendment has been regularly 
included in appropriations legislation for the Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services. The Weldon 
amendment prohibits Federal agencies, States, and 
local governments that receive the appropriated 
funds in the respective Act from discriminating 
among institutional or individual health care profes-
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sionals, organizations, facilities, and plans on the 
basis of a health care entity’s refusal to provide, pay 
for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions. 
(4) The United States has a history of pro-
tecting individuals, organizations, facilities, and 
plans from being penalized or discriminated against 
due to their religious beliefs and moral values. Until 
the enactment of the Patient Protection and Afford-
able Care Act (Public Law 111–148), the Federal 
Government has never sought to impose specific 
health care coverage or care requirements that in-
fringe on the conscience rights of insurers, pur-
chasers of insurance, plan sponsors, beneficiaries, 
and other stakeholders, such as individual or institu-
tional health care entities. 
(5) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
Act grants the Department of Health and Human 
Services the authority to provide a list of detailed 
services to be included as essential health benefits 
(as defined in section 1302(a) of the Patient Protec-
tion and Affordable Care Act), and preventive health 
services described in section 2713 of the Public 
Health Service Act. These services represent a new 
nationwide coverage requirement for health plans. 
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(6) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
Act provides a narrow exemption for religious 
groups that object to participation in government 
health programs generally, but it does not allow pur-
chasers, plan sponsors, and other stakeholders with 
religious or moral objections to specific required 
items or services to decline providing or obtaining 
coverage of such items or services, or allow health 
care entities with such objections to decline to pro-
vide them. 
(7) By creating new barriers to health insur-
ance and causing the loss of existing insurance ar-
rangements, these inflexible mandates in the Patient 
Protection and Affordable Care Act jeopardize the 
ability of individuals to exercise their rights of con-
science and their ability to freely participate in the 
health insurance and health care marketplace. 
(8) In a significant move from the current free 
insurance coverage market, the Department of 
Health and Human Services issued an interim rule 
on August 1, 2011, requiring individual and group 
health plans to cover free sterilization and all con-
traceptives approved by the Food and Drug Admin-
istration. 
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(9) Within the list of contraceptives approved 
by the Food and Drug Administration are drugs 
containing abortifacient substances and effects, in-
cluding Levonorgestral commonly known as Plan B 
and ulipristal acetate marketed as Ella. Thus, the 
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act effec-
tively mandates employers to provide health care in-
surance covering abortion drugs and services, which 
is a violation of numerous Federal provisions afore-
mentioned. 
(10) On January 20, 2012, the Department of 
Health and Human Services announced that it 
would not broaden the religious exemption it in-
cluded in its August 1, 2011, interim rule. Instead, 
it gave institutions and employers with religious and 
moral objections to including free sterilization and 
all contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug 
Administration in their offered health insurance plan 
an additional year to ‘‘adapt’’ their consciences to 
the mandate. 
SEC. 3. PROTECTING RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 
(1) PROHIBITION
ON
IMPLEMENTATION
OF 
CERTAIN RULES.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services shall not implement or enforce any provi-
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