Take Action to Stop the Anti-LGBTQ Healthcare Discrimination Bill in SC

About the Healthcare Discrimination Bill

H.4776

South Carolina Senate Bill H.4776 would grant medical providers a broad “license to discriminate” based on their personal or religious beliefs, which could negatively impact LGBTQ people, women, people of color, and people of diverse faith backgrounds. This religious refusal bill would allow those involved in medical care – so broadly defined so as to include doctors, nurses, receptionists and other employees – to refuse to admit or offer services to patients in need of care in any non-emergency situation. 

In short, this bill would allow for discrimination at every turn in the medical field, from who is hired, what services are available to which people, and what insurance will decide to cover. 

The bill is also widely seen as an effort to sanction the anti-LGBTQ practice of so-called ‘conversion therapy.’ In the summer of 2021, the City of Columbia’s took the bold and correct step of protecting LGBTQ minors from “conversion therapy” by passing a local ordinance – and some provisions of H.4776 are attempting to undo Columbia’s ordinance and preempt other jurisdictions from protecting youth.

Relationship to S.811

In fact, the original companion bill to H.4776, S.811, was amended in February 2022 to strike the healthcare discrimination provisions and solely focus on overturning and preempting local ordinances that protect minors from anti-LGBTQ “conversion therapy.” Learn more about S.811 and take action here.