California bans state-funded travel to Ohio
California will not reimburse state employees for work-related travel to Ohio because of the recently passed “conscience clause” law.
The law, passed in June's state budget bill, allows physicians, hospitals and insurers to refuse providing medical services if doing so would violate their religious, ethical or moral beliefs.
LGBTQ advocates opposed the law, saying it would lead to less care and more discrimination for LGBTQ Ohioans.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the law would allow providers to deny care to LGBTQ Americans, including Californians traveling to Ohio. A 2016 California law restricts state agencies, departments, boards, or commissions from authorizing state-funded travel to a state that has enacted a law authorizing, or repealing existing protections against, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
California officials also can't require an employee to travel to a state with such laws.
Ohio joins 17 other states on that list: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. It was not known Tuesday how much California typically spends on travel to Ohio.
“Blocking access to life-saving care is wrong. Period,” Bonta, a Democrat, said in a Friday news release. “Whether it's denying a prescription for medication that prevents the spread of HIV, refusing to provide gender-affirming care, or undermining a woman's right to choose, House Bill 110 unnecessarily puts the health of Americans at risk.”
After Gov. Mike Dewine signed the bill, he said he didn't think the new bill would discriminate against LGBTQ Ohioans.
“People are not going to be discriminated against in regard to medical care. We have a vibrant medical care system in the state of Ohio,” Dewine said.