HB 2523 Would Put Patients in Danger and Control Women’s Reproductive Autonomy

Topeka, KS –Virginia Phillips of Trust Women testified today against Kansas House Bill 2523, a pharmacist refusal and medical personnel non-referral act, which dismisses good medicine and puts patients directly in danger by a continually overreaching government.

The bill would allow medical professionals, including pharmacists, to refuse to prescribe or distribute even basic contraceptive services such as the pill. The bill would also allow those same medical professionals to refuse to refer patients to another doctor or pharmacist, potentially leaving many women in rural parts of the state without coverage or recourse.

“This bill would absolutely put patients’ lives at risk,” said Trust Women Founder and Director Julie Burkhart. “It would allow medical professionals to do as their ‘conscience,’ and not their patients’ health, dictates. It’s an unconscionable government invasion into the private medical decisions of women and their families.”

In addition to the dangers the bill poses, Trust Women emphasized at today’s hearing that the culture of fear the legislation creates would undermine the sacred trust held between doctors and patients.