Governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson
Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas governor signs ban on transgender sports Enemy in: Experts warn U.S. not learning from past pandemic mistakes The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden: Back to the future on immigration, Afghanistan, Iran MORE (R) signed a bill on Friday that allows doctors to give up treating patients if their belief systems do not fit the service being offered.
SB289, the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act, grants physicians the right to refuse treatment based on religious or moral objections.
The measure, which will take effect this summer, states that health professionals and institutions may choose not to provide certain treatments to patients only in non-emergency situations.
Hutchinson rejected a similar measure in 2017. A statement issued by Hutchinson’s office stated that it signed this new measure because it limited the right of health care providers to deny certain health care services, not people.
“The bill was amended to ensure that the exercise of the right to conscience is limited to“ conscientious objections to a particular health service, ”Hutchinson said in the statement.
“I support this right of conscience as long as emergency care is exempted and conscientious objection cannot be used to deny the general health service to any class of people,” he said. “Most importantly, federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender, and national origin continue to apply to the provision of health care services.”
LGBT advocacy groups, including the Campaign for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union, have criticized the measure, arguing that it allows for unfair discrimination against the community.
Hutchinson’s signing of the bill comes a day after the “Equity in Women’s Sport Act” was passed, which bans transgender women from participating in women’s sports in the state.