2019: Fitzpatrick Voted For An Amendment To The FY 2020 Minibus That
Would Allow DHHS To Enforce Conscientious Objections Protections Related
To Abortion. In June 2019, Fitzpatrick voted for a bill that would,
according to Congressional Quarterly, "strike from the bill a provision
prohibiting funds authorized by the bill to be used to enforce a May
2019 Health and Human Services Department rule regarding enforcement of
conscientious objection protections related to abortion and other health
provisions under HHS programs." The vote was on adoption of the
amendment. The House rejected the amendment by a vote of 192-230.
[House Vote 266,
6/12/19; Congressional
Quarterly, 6/12/19;
Congressional Actions, H.Amdt.
267;
Congressional Actions, H.R.
2740]
The Amendment Supported A Trump Administration Rule That Allowed
Health Care Workers To Object To Medical Procedures Such As Birth
Control For Religious Purposes. According to NPR, "The rule
finalized Thursday allows health care workers who have a 'religious
or conscience' objection to medical procedures such as birth control
or sterilization to refuse to participate in those procedures, even
in a tangential way. 'This rule allows anyone from a doctor to a
receptionist to entities like hospitals and pharmacies to deny a
patient critical --- and sometimes lifesaving --- care,' said Fatima
Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center,
in a statement." [NPR,
5/2/19]
ACLU: The Rule "Offers Health Care Providers Broad Leeway To
Refuse Women Reproductive Care." According to NPR, "Louise
Melling, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties
Union, says the rule offers health care providers broad leeway to
refuse women reproductive care, such as an emergency abortion to
protect the life or health of the mother, if they claim the
procedure offends their conscience. The rule protects health care
workers who have indirect involvement in such procedures, as long as
their roles have an 'articulable connection' to a procedure such as
abortion, sterilization or even administration of birth control."
[NPR,
5/2/19]