Women’s Health Protection Act: Democrats’ Abortion Bill Guts Conscience Protections

Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut both support federal legislation enshrining an expansive right to abortion in all 50 states. Both have introduced bills that would invalidate Mississippi’s law banning most abortions later than 15 weeks of pregnancy — a law that has strong popular support in the United States and is still more permissive than the abortion law in France.

But when Blumenthal’s bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, is brought up for another procedural vote today, Collins will vote against it. A major reason for Collins’s opposition is that the bill overrides federal and state conscience laws regarding abortion. There are a number of conscience laws, most notably the Church Amendments and Weldon Amendment, that protect health-care workers, medical students, hospitals, and insurers from being coerced into performing, training to perform, assisting, paying, or referring for an abortion.

About the Author

John McCormack

John McCormack is a former Washington correspondent for National Review and was a fellow at the National Review Institute.

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Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut both support federal legislation enshrining an expansive right to abortion in all 50 states. Both have introduced bills that would invalidate Mississippi’s law banning most abortions later than 15 weeks of pregnancy — a law that has strong popular support in the United States and is still more permissive than the abortion law in France.

But when Blumenthal’s bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, is brought up for another procedural vote today, Collins will vote against it. A major reason for Collins’s opposition is that the bill overrides federal and state conscience laws regarding abortion. There are a number of conscience laws, most notably the Church Amendments and Weldon Amendment, that protect health-care workers, medical students, hospitals, and insurers from being coerced into performing, training to perform, assisting, paying, or referring for an abortion.