- Aastha Chandra is a second-year medical student at the Carver College of Medicine and University of Iowa graduate.
- Her views do not represent the University of Iowa.
This month, the Register published a guest essay written by Dr. Lauris Kaldjian, medical ethics professor at University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine, supporting Senate File 2286, a bill to allow health care providers to refuse care on the basis of “religious beliefs and moral convictions.”
Though the essay appears reasonable at first glance, it is written from a perspective of malicious intent. This bill is not about complex ethical issues such as brain death and organ transplant. This bill aims to protect health care providers and institutions who refuse care to gender-diverse and LGBTQ+ patients seeking gender-affirming care. It is akin to the 2018 Supreme Court case in which a bakery refused to serve same-sex couples. This bill, however, would protect discrimination on matters of life and death for patients seeking care in Iowa.