The Health Care Conscience Rights Act (HCCRA) has been re-introduced in the House. The bill is identical to the measure introduced in the last Congress. After an introductory section on why the bill is needed (Sec. 2), long standing conscience rights policies are applied to the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (Sec. 3), the policy of the Weldon conscience protection amendment is made clearer and more permanent (Sec. 4), and a new section is created in the Public Health Service Act to establish a private right of action so victims of discrimination can take their case to federal court (Sec. 5). See Fact Sheet, “Why We Need the Health Care Conscience Rights Act,” at: origin.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/upload/why-we-need-the-hccra-sept2013.pdf.
House: On February 12, 2015, Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) introduced the HCCRA (H.R. 940). The measure has 138 co-sponsors, and was referred to two committees: Committee on Energy and Commerce and Committee on Ways and Means. Reps. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) and John Fleming (R-LA) are lead co-sponsors of the bill.
On February 13, 2015, Cardinal Seán O’Malley and Archbishop William Lori of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged House Members to support and co-sponsor H.R. 940. See: www.usccb.org/news/2015/15-030.cfm.
For NCHLA’s Action Alert, see: nchla.org/actiondisplay.asp?ID=292.
For more information on conscience rights and religious liberty, see the following sections elsewhere in this Legislative Report:
“The Administration’s Mandate”
“Abortion Non-Discrimination Act”
