Written by Don Byrd
The Arizona House sent legislation to the Senate yesterday that would provide sweeping protection to licensed professionals who refuse to provide a service on religious grounds.
Stuart Goodman, a lobbyist who represents several health-related state boards, says the measure allows “a licensee to commit unprofessional conduct simply because they can play a religious freedom component that may or may not exist.”
The measure ensures Arizona workers would not lose their professional licenses for denying services on religious grounds.
The bill is a broader version of the so-called conscience clause, which many states — including Arizona — have recognized for pharmacists, physicians or other health care workers who decline to perform abortions or prescribe emergency contraceptives.
The state legislature passed a similar bill last year that Governer Brewer vetoed because she worried it would empower some police officers to refuse to follow the law on religious grounds. The new legislation has language requiring licensees to meet their profession’s standard of care.
