Oregon Bill Relating to Participation in Medical Procedures (SB 923)

SB 923 would provide protections for people who refuse to participate in procedures related to abortion or physician-assisted suicide if such refusal is based on the person’s ethical, moral or religious convictions.

The bill would prohibit employers from discriminating against an employee or prospective employee by refusing to reasonably accommodate the ethical, moral or religious objection of the employee or prospective employee, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the program or enterprise of the employer.

Employees would be able to refuse to participate in the following procedures:

• Abortion, unless it’s necessary to save the life of the pregnant person;
• An experimental or medical procedure that destroys an in vitro human embryo or uses cells or tissue from a destroyed embryo;
• An experimental or medical procedure performed on a developing child in an artificial womb, at any stage of development, that is not related to the beneficial treatment of the child;
• A procedure that uses fetal tissue or organs from a source other than a stillbirth or miscarriage;
• An act that intentionally causes or assists in causing the death of a person who has voluntarily requested medication for the purpose of ending their life; and
• An act that intentionally causes or assists in causing the death of a person by withholding from the person ordinary food and water.

The bill would prohibit a health-care facility, employer or school from discriminating against a person with regard to admission, hiring or firing, tenure, terms, conditions or privileges of employment, student status or staff status on the grounds that the person refuses, or expresses an intention to refuse, to participate in any such procedure.

The bill would allow health-care facilities to refuse to perform procedures related to abortion or physician- assisted suicide.

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Latest Action

3/4/19 – Introduced.

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People