TAKE ACTION NOW and tell your legislators to OPPOSE SB169/HB372 and the attack on the religious freedom and conscience rights of medical providers in Maryland.

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LEARN MORE about why Maryland Right to Life is opposed to 

Senate Bill 169 and House Bill 372– Hospitals-Emergency Medical Conditions - Procedures

EMTALA Bill Forces Doctors to Commit Abortions

Maryland Right to Life, Inc. strongly opposes Senate Bill 169 and cross-filed House Bill 372 Hospitals-Emergency Medical Conditions-Procedures.  This bill is an attack on the Constitution and free exercise of religion.  This bill seeks to codify NOT the federal “Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act” known as EMTALA, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ erroneous political interpretation of EMTALA under the previous administration, which forced doctors to terminate pregnancies.

The freedom to practice one’s religion is one of our most cherished rights. Federal law and current state law recognizes this and protects hospitals and medical personnel from being compelled to do something against their religious convictions.  This bill would repeal those protections and impose severe fines against hospitals that refuse to commit abortions.  Without comprehensive protection, healthcare rights of conscience will be violated in various ways, such as harassment, demotion, salary reduction, transfer, termination, loss of staffing privileges, denial of aid or benefits, and refusal to license or certify providers—exacerbating medical scarcity in Maryland.

By enacting this bill, the Maryland General Assembly would be infringing upon the Constitutional right to the free exercise of religion guaranteed to all citizens under the First Amendment.  

The State also would be in violation of federal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that an employer must not discriminate against an employee based on the employee’s religious beliefs.  Employees cannot be subjected to harassment because of their religious beliefs or practices. Title VII requires employers to grant reasonable requests for religious accommodation unless doing so would result in undue hardship to the employer.  This bill seeks to create that hardship by imposing fines.

Here are some important talkpoints to understand and share:

• All hospitals with obstetric staff already comply with federal law and provide medically-indicated separations of mothers and babies when necessary to save the life of the mother, such as for miscarriage, ectopic pregnancies and other medical emergencies.  This bill would require hospitals to complete failed ELECTIVE abortions as well.
• The deregulation and proliferation of chemical abortion drugs has created a crisis situation, where 11% of women experience serious medical complications and emergency room visits have increased by 500%.  At minimum, we urge the FDA to restore previous safeguards for women when using these deadly drugs.
• The National Right to Life A.P.P.L.E. Act notifies women that they have the right to sue abortion drug providers and manufacturers due to injuries from these drugs.
• The bill removes current statutory protections for medical providers and faith-based hospitals and requires hospitals to force emergency room physicians to commit abortions in violation of their rights of conscience and religious freedoms. 
• The bill would force physicians to violate their Hippocratic Oath in which they swore first to do no harm to their patients.
• The bill imposes severe civil penalties against hospitals and physicians who refuse to commit abortions, including fines of $50,000 for each violation of this bill and exclusion from participation in the Maryland Medical Assistance Program, which allows providers to seek Medicaid reimbursements for medical services rendered.
• The bill will exacerbate Maryland’s current medical scarcity crisis, putting public health at risk.

The federal “Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act” known as EMTALA was enacted by Congress in 1986, “to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay.” EMTALA requires hospitals that receive Medicare funding to medically screen, stabilize, and appropriately transfer an individual with an “emergency medical condition.”  

While this proposed bill includes abortion as a required treatment for “medical emergencies”, EMTALA specifically directs care, where applicable, for both the pregnant woman and her unborn baby, and never mentions abortion. 

This bill enables the abortion industry and abortion drug manufacturers to be grossly negligent and endanger the health and lives of their female patients with no consequences. By enacting this bill, the Assembly will be passing the burden of care to emergency room physicians to complete abortions or provide emergency interventions for women injured as a result of substandard care at the hands of abortionists.

Conscience right protections are common sense. Conscience-respecting legislation does not ban any procedure or prescription and does not mandate any particular belief or morality.  Protecting conscience helps ensure that healthcare providers enter and remain in their professions, helping to meet the rising demand for quality health care in Maryland, especially for pregnant women in need of quality obstetric and prenatal care.