A provision in Ohio’s latest budget bill, which was recently passed, gives doctors the right to refuse service to potential patients on religious and moral grounds.
“This simply puts in statute what the practice has been anyways,” Gov. Mike DeWine (R) reportedly said. “Let’s say the doctor is against abortion, the doctor is not doing abortion. If there’s other things that maybe a doctor has a conscience problem with, it gets worked out, somebody else does those things.”
The provision in the law also codifies a doctor’s right to refuse to prescribe birth control, or refuse treatments like in-vitro fertilization. It could also plausibly allow doctors to refuse services like hormone treatments to transgender people.
The law also exempts entire hospitals and insurance companies from providing those services if their consciences are violated.
LGBT activists say the new provision could be harmful to them.
“Say I happen to be a gay patient and I wanted to see a provider in my town,” Dr. Todd Kelper, the director of a healthcare system that serves the LGBT community told The Dayton Daily News. “And there weren’t really any other providers in town. But they find that morally unacceptable, they could turn me away, and the language is so broad that that could even be done at an institutional level. So, if you have a hospital that perhaps has an affiliation with a religious institution. And again, that happens to be the only institution in town, theoretically they could turn that patient away for health care.”
But state Sen. Steve Huffman (R-District 5) says he supports the provision in the law, and claims that it will only affect elective procedures.
“In my career as a doctor, I have consistently and wholeheartedly prioritized my patients, and I do everything in my power to improve their overall health and wellness in a way that best fits their needs,” he said. However, when a patient requests elective services, like abortion, that could infringe on a doctor’s personal religious, moral or ethical code, it is simply time they find a new provider. I fully support the language in this budget that protects all medical professionals by ensuring they are not obligated to perform or pay for procedures that conflict with their conscience.”
This is the latest battle between the state and left-wing activists.
In April, Planned Parenthood sued Ohio after the state banned telemedicine abortions. That was towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many doctor’s offices still had not reopened.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to dabroscareports@gmail.com.