VotedBy VotedBy ⌕
Election Day · Tue, Nov 3See how your members of Congress voted →

H.R. 6060 · 117th Congress

Conscience Protection Act of 2021

Key: what the circles and colors mean

Each circle is a bill. The ring fills as it moves through Congress:

IntroducedPassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law (gold)Resolution agreed to (full, dark)Failed or vetoed (gray)

Under the number: the Yea · Nay count of its final (or latest) recorded vote. On a member's page, the small badge is how that member voted: Y Yea / Aye, N Nay / No, P Present, – Not voting.

Gold and violet are only for Yea and Nay; they never mean a party. A member's party is the letter on their photo.

Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 117th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.

AHR HarrisSponsor
106 cosponsors · 106 R
RAR Aderholt RAR Allen LBR Boebert MBR Burgess LBR Bucshon BBR Babin MBR Bost DBR Bacon JBR Banks JBR Bergman ABR Biggs TBR Budd TBR Burchett SCR Chabot KCR Cammack TCR Cole JCR Carl RCR Crawford BCR Carter ACR Clyde BCR Cline DCR Crenshaw MDR Diaz-Balart JDR Duncan RDR Davis WDR Davidson PFR Fallon RFR Feenstra JFR Fortenberry VFR Foxx SFR Fitzgerald CFR Franklin SGR Graves LGR Gohmert BGR Guthrie HGR Griffith GGR Grothman GGR Graves LGR Gooden MGR Guest BGR Good VHR Hartzler BHR Huizenga RHR Hudson JHR Hice THR Hollingsworth KHR Hern YHR Herrell AHR Hinson MJR Johnson RJR Jackson DKR Kustoff FKR Keller JLR LaTurner DLR Lamborn RLR Latta BLR Luetkemeyer DLR LaMalfa BLR Loudermilk DLR LaHood DLR Lesko JLR Letlow LMR McClain DMR McKinley TMR Massie PMR Meijer JMR Moolenaar AMR Mooney BMR Mast MMR Miller BMR Moore BMR Moore MMR Miller-Meeks RNR Norman BPR Posey GPR Palmer GPR Pence MRR Rosendale MRR Rogers TRR Rice DRR Rouzer JRR Rutherford GRR Reschenthaler CRR Roy MSR Simpson ASR Smith ESR Stefanik LSR Smucker BSR Steil WSR Steube GTR Thompson WTR Timmons JWR Wilson TWR Walberg DWR Webster JWR Walorski RWR Weber BWR Wenstrup RWR Williams TER Emmer MFR Fischbach BGR Gibbs TMR Mann MMR Mullin VTR Taylor BFR Finstad

99 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.

This bill provides statutory authority for certain protections for health care providers that refuse to participate in abortions based on religious beliefs or other convictions. Health care providers include individual professionals, medical facilities, health insurance organizations, and social services providers that refer clients to health care services.

What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · Nov 19, 2021

Conscience Protection Act of 2021

This bill provides statutory authority for certain protections for health care providers that refuse to participate in abortions based on religious beliefs or other convictions. Health care providers include individual professionals, medical facilities, health insurance organizations, and social services providers that refer clients to health care services.

The federal government and entities that receive federal funding for health-related activities, including state and local governments, may not discriminate against a health care provider that refuses to be involved in, or provide coverage for, abortions. Currently, similar requirements apply to various related activities, including

  • certain employment or personnel decisions (the Church Amendments),
  • abortion services training (the Coats-Snowe Amendment),
  • qualified health plans offered through health insurance exchanges, and
  • annual appropriations bills for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies (the Weldon Amendment).

The HHS Office for Civil Rights must investigate complaints of this kind of discrimination. Furthermore, HHS may terminate or reduce HHS funding for health-related activities if a person or entity fails to comply with nondiscrimination requirements.

Additionally, the Department of Justice or any entity adversely affected by such discrimination may bring a civil action to obtain appropriate relief. A plaintiff does not need to seek or exhaust administrative remedies before bringing the action. A plaintiff may also bring an action, including one for money damages, against a governmental entity. In many cases, principles of sovereign immunity shield states and some localities from these kinds of actions.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov

About this bill and sources

Official title: Conscience Protection Act of 2021

Latest action (Nov 22, 2021): Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Policy area: Health · Origin: House · Introduced: Nov 19, 2021

Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)

No recorded floor vote found.