JEFFERSON CITY Medical workers would be protected if they refused to participate in procedures such as abortions, fertility treatments or stem-cell research under a bill given initial approval by the Missouri House.

House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, said his bill protected the conscience rights of workers who did not want to provide specific, limited procedures that violated their religious beliefs. He said it also protected patients from having someone distracted while treating them.

This is good for workers in giving them more rights. This is good for patients, Jones said. Do you want that person taking care of you who is not 110 percent invested in what theyre doing and is sitting there wondering if theyre violating their religious beliefs?

The bill would prohibit retaliation from employers if an employee gave reasonable notice that they didnt want to participate in specific procedures. Jones said he had revised the bill from previous years to include exceptions for emergency situations.

The procedures listed in the bill include abortion, abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, reproductive assistance, human stem-cell research, human cloning, non-medically necessary sterilization and fetal tissue research.

Besides employees, the bill also protects institutions from being required to provide any procedure that violates its conscience, which would be determined from its guidelines and mission statement. The definitions in the bill include protections for refusing to refer patients for the specific procedures listed.

Opponents of the bill said it would interfere with womens access to medical services and was government intrusion into health care. Rep. Stacey Newman, D-St. Louis, said the bill specifically targeted procedures women have come to expect and rely on.

This is this body trying to put themselves in our gynecology offices telling our doctors exactly what they can and cant do, Newman said. "This is one more vagina-specific bill in an election year."

Jones said that the intent of the bill was solely to protect workers and their religious freedom under the First Amendment. He said Newman had brought political vitriol into the debate and said that if the other side really thought the government shouldnt be involved in health care, then they should help dismantle the presidents health care law.

This is simply codifying and giving greater freedom and more rights to institutions that do not want to provide certain services, Jones said.

Continue reading here:
Missouri House approves conscience rights bill for third time