WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Thom Tillis, Marco Rubio (R-FL), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and J.D. Vance (R-OH) recently introduced the Protecting Conscience in Healthcare Act, which prohibits government agencies and federally-funded health facilities, such as hospitals and health clinics, from requiring employees to participate in activities that promote radical genderideology.

“This common-sense legislation protects health care facilities and professionals from being forced to advocate for political and social agendas that violate their medical judgements and strongly-held religious beliefs,” said Senator Tillis. “This bill defends crucial medical and religious exemptions for hospitals, health clinics, and their employees so they can focus onpatient care, not be required to advance radical political agendas.” 

In May, the Washington Free Beacon exposed coordination between more than 2,200 health systems in the U.S. and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). The Healthcare Equality Index, HRC’s measurement for “equitable and inclusive” hospitals, encourages healthcare systems to approach “gender medicine” without crucial guardrails for patient health that are put in place by systems worldwide.

To earn a high score on the HRC’s index, hospitals must conduct training that advocates radical gender ideology, display pro-LGBTQ symbols, force employees to use patients’ preferred pronouns, and use the same treatments for gender dysphoria that they use for other medical conditions, such as precocious puberty. Furthermore, the index penalizes hospitals for allowing religious and medical conscience exemptions, and describes these exemptions as “discriminatory treatment.” 

Full text of the legislation is available HERE. 

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