MEDICAL CONSCIENCE RIGHTS INITIATIVE


Protecting Religious Freedom in Healthcare

OVERVIEW


The Medical Conscience Rights Initiative (MCRI) is a joint effort launched in 2020 by the Religious Freedom Institute (RFI), Alliance Defending Freedom, and Christ Medicus Foundation to equip state leaders to understand why protecting religious medical practitioners and institutions is so vital. No medical practitioner, clinic, or hospital should be pressured or coerced to perform, or otherwise participate in, highly contested, elective procedures such as abortion, physician assisted suicide, or “gender transition” surgery.


MCRI involves a multi-level strategy, including:

  • Print and digital media campaigns
  • Education resources
  • Grassroots coalition building in select states
  • Direct professional and educational advocacy with state leaders
  • Hearing testimony provided by coalition partners

Medical conscience rights are rooted in:

  • Human Dignity
  • The purpose of medicine to administer life-affirming care
  • The medical practitioner's oath to Do No Harm
  • First Amendment protections of religious conscience and free exercise

Five states — Arkansas, Ohio, South Carolina, Montana, and Florida — have enacted robust medical conscience protections in recent years. Similar efforts are ongoing in multiple other states.

To learn more, contact RFI by phone: 202-838-7734 or email: crfe@rfi.org.







MEDICAL CONSCIENCE RIGHTS INITIATIVE IN CONTEXT