Sponsors (17)
Official title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit discrimination against health care entities that do not participate in abortion, and to strengthen implementation and enforcement of Federal conscience laws.
Introduced May 14, 2025 by August Pfluger · Last progress May 14, 2025
The bill strengthens and enforces conscience and religious-liberty protections for health care providers and institutions (including private lawsuits and federal compliance tools), but at the likely cost of reduced access to abortion services, increased litigation and compliance costs, and legal/operational uncertainty for providers and public programs.
Health care entities (hospitals, clinicians, insurers, and faith-based organizations) and individual providers can decline to participate in abortions or related activities without risk of federal penalties or loss of federal funding.
Providers, institutions, and individuals can bring private lawsuits to enforce conscience protections and recover damages and attorneys' fees, giving them a direct enforcement pathway beyond agency action.
Training programs and students are protected from adverse federal actions for refusing to participate in abortion training or related activities, shielding educational institutions and applicants.
Patients seeking abortion or abortion-related services (including uninsured and Medicaid beneficiaries) could face reduced access where providers, insurers, or plans refuse to provide, refer, or cover care.
Insured people may lose abortion coverage or experience gaps if issuers, sponsors, or plans decline to offer coverage and state mandates are undermined, reducing mandated insurance benefits for enrollees.
Expansion of private enforcement rights and waiver of administrative-exhaustion requirements is likely to increase litigation volume, raising legal costs for taxpayers, hospitals, providers, insurers, and burdening federal courts.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Bars federal agencies and federal fund recipients from penalizing health-care entities for refusing to provide, refer, or cover abortions and creates HHS and private enforcement.
Prohibits the federal government and any recipient of federal funds from penalizing or discriminating against a broad set of health care entities that refuse to provide, refer for, pay for, sponsor, or otherwise participate in abortion or abortion coverage. Creates a new statutory conscience-protection backstop in the Public Health Service Act, directs HHS to implement and enforce listed conscience and religious-liberty protections, authorizes HHS to investigate and terminate federal assistance for violations, and creates a private and government civil cause of action for actual or threatened violations with injunctive, declaratory, and compensatory relief plus attorney’s fees.