Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE OF
HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS AND A PARENT'S
RIGHT TO KNOW

United

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND
COMMERCE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JULY 11, 2002

Serial No. 107-126

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house

80-684PS

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 2002

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800
Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE

W.J. "BILLY" TAUZIN, Louisiana, Chairman

MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida
JOE BARTON, Texas

FRED UPTON, Michigan
CLIFF STEARNS, Florida

PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio

JAMES C. GREENWOOD, Pennsylvania
CHRISTOPHER COX, California
NATHAN DEAL, Georgia

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky
GREG GANSKE, Iowa

CHARLIE NORWOOD, Georgia
BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois

HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico
JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona

CHARLES "CHIP" PICKERING, Mississippi
VITO FOSSELLA, New York
ROY BLUNT, Missouri
TOM DAVIS, Virginia
ED BRYANT, Tennessee

ROBERT L. EHRLICH, Jr., Maryland
STEVE BUYER, Indiana

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California
CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire
JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania
MARY BONO, California
GREG WALDEN, Oregon

LEE TERRY, Nebraska

ERNIE FLETCHER, Kentucky

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan HENRY A. WAXMAN, California EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts RALPH M. HALL, Texas

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York
FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio

BART GORDON, Tennessee
PETER DEUTSCH, Florida

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois

ANNA G. ESHOO, California
BART STUPAK, Michigan
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
TOM SAWYER, Ohio
ALBERT R. WYNN, Maryland
GENE GREEN, Texas
KAREN MCCARTHY, Missouri
TED STRICKLAND, Ohio
DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado
THOMAS M. BARRETT, Wisconsin
BILL LUTHER, Minnesota
LOIS CAPPS, California
MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
CHRISTOPHER JOHN, Louisiana
JANE HARMAN, California

[blocks in formation]

PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS AND A PARENT'S RIGHT TO KNOW

THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2002

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH,
Washington, DC.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3 p.m., in room 2322, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Michael Bilirakis (chairman) presiding.

Members present: Representatives Bilirakis, Burr, Norwood, Pitts, Tauzin (ex officio), Brown, Strickland, Capps, Towns, Deutsch, and Wynn.

Staff present: Patrick Morrisey, deputy staff director; Cheryl Jaeger, majority professional staff; Steven Tilton, health policy coordinator; Eugenia Edwards, legislative clerk; John Ford, minority counsel; and Jessica McNiece, minority staff assistant.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. I call this hearing to order and first would like to thank our witnesses for appearing before the subcommittee today. This subcommittee certainly values your expertise, and we are very grateful for your cooperation and attendance. And as you good people fall in, please, let us try to be orderly.

Today's hearing will touch on two subjects that I know many members of the subcommittee, myself included, feel very strongly about. Because of the vastly divergent views and strong feelings invoked by the issues we will be discussing today, I believe it is important to have a hearing which will afford us the opportunity to listen to different viewpoints. And I think this open dialog and expert testimony will aid all members in making an informed decision about how best to legislate in this area.

Our first panel will discuss an issue that we commonly refer to as the conscience clause. In 1996, the Congress passed, and President Clinton signed into law, provisions that provide protections to health care professionals and a, "health care entity" from being forced to perform abortions if they have moral or religious objections to the procedure. However, court interpretations have called into question whether these sections of law apply to hospitals that object to offering elective abortions.

In 1998, a number of senators attempted to clarify the record by stating that a health care entity was defined to include physicians and other which does not mean that it excludes hospitals. However, this clarification has not been sufficient and it has come to my at

(1)

« ZurückWeiter »