Beyond Politics: A Social and Cultural History of Federal Healthcare Conscience Protections
Kimberly A. Parr, 35 Am. J.L. & Med. 620 (2009)
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This Note will proceed in three parts. Part II will lay the conceptual framework for a substantive discussion of ‘conscience clauses,’ articulating a working definition of the term and introducing elements pertinent to the ongoing debate over their validity. Part III will provide the legal and social history of federal conscience protections in chronological order, beginning with the Church Amendment of 1973 and concluding with the Provider Conscience Regulation of 2009. This section will both describe the substance of the legislation (or administrative rule) and explore the relevant advancements in society or culture that underlie them. I will then conclude in Part IV, arguing that this historical analysis reveals a paradox in which various attempts to expand patients’ access to care triggers a perceived threat to provider conscience, with the federal government consistently resolving this tension in favor of the provider.
