Tennessee Bill Guards Conscience Protections for Healthcare Providers
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the Medical Ethics Defense Act (MED Act), protecting healthcare providers from being required to pay for or participate in procedures that violate their conscience.
The legislation, SB 955, also protects whistleblowers from being discriminated against if they disclose medical ethical violations, mismanagement, abuse, waste of funds, or practices that put patients at risk. In addition, it protects the free speech of healthcare providers.
The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 27-3, and the House with a vote of 71-22.
Practically speaking, SB 955 protects religious hospitals and individual medical providers from having to engage in harmful procedures like abortions and medical procedures for individuals with transgender confusion. The bill protects medical professionals from having to dispense birth control, if that is against their religious beliefs.
Activists have often targeted Christian groups and individuals who will not provide insurance coverage for employees for these procedures or offer them at hospitals and health clinics – leading to lengthy, costly lawsuits.
SB 955 safeguards professionals from state agencies who refuse to license them because of disagreements over treatments.
This would protect them from incidents like that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners threatened disciplinary action against “physicians who generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation,” as The Heritage Foundation Visiting Fellow Robby Starbuck posted at the time.
Despite real scientific differences on how to treat the virus, the Board’s action worked to stifle discussion and limit healthcare workers’ free speech.
A summary of SB 955 explains that the freedom of conscience protections don’t apply to emergency medical treatment of services governed by federal law, but it also allows religious healthcare providers to make employment and administrative decisions consistent with their religious beliefs.
Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, applauded the bill on X, thanking the governor for signing the measure:
In a press release, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen explained the importance of the new law:
Chafuen added:
He credited legislators who supported the act and thanked Tennessee Right to Life for “its monumental work on this effort.”
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