AN ACT relating to the recruitment and retention of health care professionals and declaring an emergency.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 344 to ensure federal law relating to emergency medical treatment and the collection of evidence is not overridden; define terms; prohibit discrimination against health care professionals who decline to perform procedures that violate their conscience; grant health care professionals the right not to participate in services that violate their conscience; exempt health care professionals from liability for exercising these rights; prohibit hiring or licensing authorities from reprimanding health care…

Introduced: January 12, 2026

Last action: February 17, 2026

To Committee On Committees (H)

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This bill creates legal protections for health care professionals in Kentucky who choose not to perform medical procedures that conflict with their personal conscience or beliefs. It would prohibit employers and licensing boards from punishing those professionals for declining to participate in such services, and it gives them the right to sue if those protections are violated. The emergency designation means it would take effect immediately upon becoming law. Who it may affect: health care…

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