ACLJ to Maryland Senate Committee: It’s Illegal To Coerce Medical Professionals to Perform Abortion, and We’ll Be Watching

Like clockwork, the Maryland General Assembly takes up the abortion industry’s latest bill. If the abortion industry wants something, they’ll probably get it in Maryland. But that does not mean the ACLJ will stay silent.

As we’ve done many times before, at the invitation of our friends at Maryland Right to Life, we appeared before Maryland’s Senate Finance Committee and presented testimony in opposition to the latest abortion bill. This one, SB447, aims to force doctors and medical personnel to perform abortions despite their religious convictions.

This bill is ostensibly modeled after the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) – which federal courts have described as having nothing to do with abortion. But of course, in Maryland, it’s got everything to do with abortion. The bill’s sponsor, in fact, characterized it that way, and the testimony presented in support of the bill characterized it that way. No matter how it is dressed up, this bill is intended to require people to commit abortions in violation of their consciences.

The abortion industry is relentless. How far we’ve come from the Leftist platitude that abortions should be safe, legal, and rare. Now, it’s abortion on demand, without apology, at any point up to birth (and some advance infanticide even after birth), paid for with everyone’s tax dollars, provided to your minor child without your knowledge or consent, and, if it violates your conscience to perform one, too bad. All must kneel at the altar of abortion.

Incredibly, the bill’s backers claimed the bill is necessary because (1) the new Trump Administration in the White House is unlikely to enforce the federal EMTALA the way the Biden Administration did, and (2) litigation involving the federal EMTALA is working its way through the courts. But the federal EMTALA is subject to a number of legislative provisions that clarify it cannot and does not mandate that a religious objector perform an abortion. Other federal protections exist as well, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And the Biden Administration intentionally “interpreted” EMTALA in a way that violated those provisions – that’s why there’s litigation. We raised this to the Maryland Senate committee.

And beyond that, we warned the committee that the federal conscience protections still govern – and are supreme – over state law. In other words, Maryland can attempt to force whatever it wants; however, if a medical professional is forced to perform (or punished for not performing) an abortion over their religious conviction, we will take Maryland to court.

We warned the committee that according to the United States Supreme Court, doctors and health care personnel have “broad and comprehensive conscience protections guaranteed by federal law.” FDA v. All. for Hippocratic Med., 602 U.S. 367, 390 (2024). More specifically:

[F]ederal conscience laws definitively protect doctors from being required to perform abortions or to provide other treatment that violates their consciences. See 42 U. S. C. §300a-7(c)(1); see also H. R. 4366, 118th Cong., 2d Sess., Div. C, Title II, §203 (2024). The Church Amendments, for instance, speak clearly. They allow doctors and other healthcare personnel to “refus[e] to perform or assist” an abortion without punishment or discrimination from their employers. 42 U. S. C. §300a- 7(c)(1). And the Church Amendments more broadly provide that doctors shall not be required to provide treatment or assistance that would violate the doctors’ religious beliefs or moral convictions. §300a-7(d).

Testimony in support of the bill and its sponsor’s commentary both made quite clear that coercing a medical provider to perform an abortion, even in violation of their conscience, is precisely the goal. (Their words, not ours.) Imagine a medical profession where all the healthcare providers who are pro-life are forced out. Even those who are not coerced into performing abortions will be discouraged from remaining in a field where such a thing could happen. The net result is not a good one.

If SB447 backers have their way, medical providers who refuse could face all kinds of consequences ranging from losing their jobs or even their licenses and crippling fines. This means that in its race to become the abortion mecca of the United States, Maryland intends to violate federal law – abortion or else. Following the fall of Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, leaders in states like Maryland tirelessly endeavor to expand abortion “access” – in many cases, and ironically, even far beyond what Roe and Casey actually allowed. Enforcement of the federal conscience protections is becoming more important than ever.

These battles are already happening. Join us. Do what you can to help protect the conscience rights of medical professionals across the nation.