Religious Liberty in the States Safeguards

General Conscience Protection

Checkmarks below indicate the states that provide open-ended protections for health-care providers such that they can refuse to participate in any procedure for reasons of conscience. Since these laws are relatively rare, we include the names of the laws as well as the citation.

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State	Legal Provision	Statute(s)	URL	Statute(s)
Alabama	● Health Care Rights of Conscience Act	§22-21B-4	https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-22/title-1/chapter-21b/section-22-21b-4/	§22-21B-4
Alaska	○ No
Arizona	○ No
Arkansas	● Medical Ethics and Diversity Act	§17-80-504	https://casetext.com/statute/arkansas-code-of-1987/title-17-professions-occupations-and-businesses/subtitle-3-medical-professions/chapter-80-general-provisions/subchapter-5-medical-ethics-and-diversity-act/section-17-80-504-right-of-conscience	§17-80-504
California	○ No
Colorado	○ No
Connecticut	○ No
Delaware	○ No
Florida	● Medical Ethics and Diversity Act	§381.00321(2)	http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0300-0399/0381/Sections/0381.00321.html	§381.00321(2)
Georgia	○ No
Hawaii	○ No
Idaho	○ No	§18-611	https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/Title18/T18CH6/SECT18-611/	§18-611
Illinois	● Health Care Rights of Conscience Act	745 ILCS 70/1-14	https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2082&ChapterID=58	745 ILCS 70/1-14
Indiana	○ No
Iowa	○ No
Kansas	○ No
Kentucky	○ No
Louisiana	○ No
Maine	○ No
Maryland	○ No
Massachusetts	○ No
Michigan	○ No
Minnesota	○ No
Mississippi	● Health Care Rights of Conscience Act	§41-107-5, -7, -9, §41-41-215(5)	https://advance.lexis.com/api/document/collection/statutes-legislation/id/8P6B-83C2-D6RV-H09M-00008-00?cite=Miss.%20Code%20Ann.%20%C2%A7%2041-107-5&context=1000516	§41-107-5, -7, -9, §41-41-215(5)
Missouri	○ No
Montana	● Health Care Rights of Conscience Act	50-4-(1101-1107)	https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0500/chapter_0040/part_0110/sections_index.html	50-4-(1101-1107)
Nebraska	○ No	Statute	https://legiscan.com/NE/bill/LB810/2023	Statute
Nevada	○ No
New Hampshire	○ No
New Jersey	○ No
New Mexico	○ No	24-7A-7(E), -9A(4)	https://nmonesource.com/nmos/nmsa/en/item/4384/index.do#24-7A-7	24-7A-7(E), -9A(4)
New York	○ No
North Carolina	○ No
North Dakota	○ No
Ohio	● Freedom to decline for conscience-based objections	§4743.10	https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4743.10	§4743.10
Oklahoma	○ No
Oregon	○ No
Pennsylvania	○ No
Rhode Island	○ No
South Carolina	● Medical Ethics and Diversity Act	§44-139-30	https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t44c139.php	§44-139-30
South Dakota	○ No
Tennessee	○ No
Texas	○ No
Utah	○ No
Vermont	○ No
Virginia	○ No
Washington	● Right of Conscience Act	§48.43.065(2)(a)	https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=48.43.065	§48.43.065(2)(a)
West Virginia	○ No
Wisconsin	○ No
Wyoming	○ No

Note on citations:
Due to changes in online law databases and states’ websites, we cannot ensure that every link to a state law will be functional in perpetuity. If a link to a statute is no longer functional, please use a search engine to locate the state’s code and use the citation number to manually navigate to the relevant law. Where multiple laws are cited, the link is for the first law listed. For more information on citations, download the full data set which includes additional research notes.

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