Michigan House of Reps Passes Controversial Religious Freedom Bill

[MahoganySnitch 67]

 

     A new bill called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) has passed through the Michigan House of Representatives, prohibiting the government from intervening if health care workers, such as EMTs and pharmacists, and other businesspeople refuse service on the grounds of protecting personal religious beliefs.

     Though the bill has yet to make its way to the state Senate, its 59-50 passage in the House has already caused controversy, particularly among opponents who claim the bill is merely a veiled attempt at legalizing discrimination. Supporters, meanwhile, point to a waning set of religious freedoms in public life as the cause for the bill. People of specific religious backgrounds shouldn’t have to practice their beliefs solely in private, some have asserted.

     Michigan’s RFRA is modeled after a federal law, which the Supreme Court has ruled does not apply to states. Under both forms of the law, an individual’s claim would have to pass a two-part balancing test in order to meet the legal standards. First, the individual would have to prove the request violated his or her sincerely held religious beliefs, and the government would then have to prove the law achieved its policy goal through the least restrictive means possible.

     While the proponents of the bill cite less-offensive cases, such as Jewish butchers refusing to handle non-kosher meat or Christian pastors prohibited from donating to local homeless populations due to food safety rules, others point to subtler  and more dangerous  possible uses. These include pharmacists refusing to fill HIV prescriptions, or EMTs denying a gay person the right to live, said an ACLU of Michigan attorney to MLive....

SOURCE: http://www.medicaldaily.com/michigan-house-passes-bill-allowing-health-care-discrimination-against-lgbt-grounds-313518

 

 

Who were the advisers that thought this was a good idea?

 

My 2 cents: There's no way this will become state law. If Brewer vetoed the Arizona bill, this too will fall. 

[Morphine Prince 109,645]

Great

[HighwayGuy 1,498]

I thought treating everyone equally was the general principle especially in something like healthcare???

[FATCAT 60,886]

Legalizing discrimination one minority at a time.

[MahoganySnitch 67]

I thought treating everyone equally was the general principle especially in something like healthcare???

An EMT on reddit did speak on this, and said EMTs are supposed to treat everyone and do so equally, including people like child molesters. I'm not in the field, but I'm fairly certain you're obligated to treat anyone that needs it as an EMT, regardless of who they are or who they're affiliated with. 

[socotra 3,357]

ew michigan