Statement by Louis Brown, Jr., Esq. Executive Director of the Christ Medicus Foundation
“The law of the land in Ohio now fully protects the civil right of medical professionals to love and care for patients consistent with their moral, ethical, and religious convictions.”
For Immediate Release
(Troy, MI) July 1, 2021
Last night, on June 30, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed into law major state budget legislation that included broad medical conscience protections.
The law of the land in Ohio now fully protects the civil right of medical professionals to love and care for patients consistent with their moral, ethical, and religious convictions.
The civil right of medical conscience is vital to ensuring that medical professionals are not coerced into performing procedures that they believe are unethical and harmful to patients.
These new medical conscience protections are also key to maintaining a diverse health care industry and workforce in Ohio that welcomes medical professionals of faith instead of driving them out.
The new law will help patients find medical professionals that respect their moral, ethical, and religious beliefs.
By protecting the right of medical conscience and upholding the principle that medical professionals should ‘do no harm’ to the patient, these new medical conscience provisions help safeguard the life, health and dignity of patients in Ohio.
Importantly, these new medical conscience protections compliment federal laws that protect patients from unjust discrimination and that require hospitals to provide emergency medical treatment to patients.
We applaud Governor Mike DeWine and the Ohio state legislature for stepping into the breach to protect the civil right of medical conscience and to help safeguard the life, health, and dignity of patients in Ohio.
PRESS CONTACT: Kathy Dempsey for Christ Medicus Foundation
202-359-4379; [email protected]