OHIO — Health care workers, hospitals and health insurance providers in the state of Ohio can now deny services that go against their moral or religious beliefs.
It’s called the medical practitioner conscience clause and it protects medical professionals from civil, criminal and administrative liability if they refuse to treat a patient over moral, ethical or religious beliefs.
This provision concerns many in the LGBTQ+ community.
Twelve-year-old Bradie Anderson and her family share in this concern because Bradie is transgender.
Bradie’s father, Adam Anderson, said the family has always supported Bradie and realized Bradie was 100% a girl in mind, body and soul when she was just a toddler.
“It was a no-brainer,” Adam said. “This child was going through a depression at three and four years that I hadn’t seen in my other children.”
The family did research and got the support they needed to make informed decisions.
“We’ve found the proper group of doctors that have been open and supportive of what is going on with our child,” Adam said.
Adam said the medical practitioner conscience clause could potentially put Bradie in danger.
“If she had to be treated as an emergency, whether she gets in a car accident or whether she gets hurt on the soccer field or some other unknown, how would my child be treated?” Adam asked. “That shouldn’t be OK, that should not be something a parent has to worry about, my child is a child just like yours.”
The family hopes the new provision in the state budget won’t lead to negative or potentially damaging experiences in Bradie’s future.
As for Bradie, she said medical professionals should treat all people equally.
“People should be treated the same, equally,” she said. “Just because they are, not different, they are just a person.”
