SB185 Summary

• Health care providers may refuse to perform or participate in abortion, human cloning, human embryonic stem cell research, or sterilization services if they have provided written objection at least 24 hours in advance.

• Health care providers are immune from civil, criminal, or administrative liability for declining to participate in objected services, except in life-threatening situations where no other provider is available.

• Employers, health care institutions, and licensing boards are prohibited from discriminating against health care providers based on refusal to participate in services violating their conscience, with students protected from penalization for their stated positions.

• Courts may award injunctive relief, reinstatement to prior position, back pay, and costs of action for violations of the act.

• The act does not apply to abortion clinics licensed by the State Board of Health and does not supersede existing Alabama medical liability laws or abortion-related statutes.