Arkansas Passes Medical Conscience Protection Law

On Wednesday the Arkansas Legislature passed a law protecting medical rights of conscience in the state.
Four years ago, Arkansas passed Act 462 of 2021 to uphold healthcare workers’ rights of conscience.
Before that law passed, Arkansas’ conscience protections were narrowly focused on abortion and end of life decisions, and they protected very few people.
Act 462 changed that. It helped broaden those protections and apply them to all healthcare workers.
S.B. 444 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Lee Johnson (R — Greenwood) strengthens the healthcare workers’ rights of conscience law Arkansas passed in 2021.
Among other things, this good law adds whistleblower protections for healthcare workers, and it helps protect all medical professionals from having their rights of conscience violated.
S.B. 444 will help enhance the conscience protections Arkansas enacted four years ago. It now goes to the governor to be signed into law.
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