Refusal clauses can permit a broad range of individuals and institutions – including hospitals, hospital employees, health-care providers, and insurers – to refuse to provide, pay for, counsel about, or even refer for medical treatment. 

The Federal Refusal Clause could:

• Give health-care corporations license to gag their doctors and thus undermine the doctor-patient relationship.
• Override federal guidelines that ensure women receive referrals when requesting information about all their medical options. 
• Restrict low-income women’s access to necessary reproductive-health care and jeopardize the lives of women.
• Impinge upon states’ ability to protect women’s health and cost states billions of dollars through the loss of all health, education and labor-related funds if it violates the federal refusal clause.
  

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