By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
A two-term state lawmaker wants to force health care providers to disclose – up front – whether they won’t provide certain medical services or products based on their religious beliefs.
The proposal by Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley, D-Tucson, would not force doctors, pharmacists, hospitals to serve patients whose needs violate their own moral or beliefs. But she said it’s only fair that would-be patients are made aware of that ahead of time, before they show up for services that they cannot get.
Powers Hannley said this is about more than doctors that will not prescribe birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraception, or the pharmacists who will not dispense it, even with a proper prescription. She said others, such as transgender people, may want to know up front whether a doctor they need or even one assigned by an insurance company will turn them away.
