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Utah committee advances bill on religious conscience in health care after brief public testimony

Utah State Legislature — Senate Health and Human Services Committee · February 19, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee advanced SB174, a sponsor‑led measure described as protecting religious liberty in health‑care decisions, after public testimony from a transgender Utah resident urged rejection. Sponsor said the bill focuses on procedures rather than on denying care to people.

Senator Kevin Stratton, sponsor of SB174, told the Senate Health and Human Services Committee that the bill aims to protect the exercise of religious beliefs in health‑care settings while the committee continues to refine language and adopt a substitute.

“In this bill … we talk about procedures and not people,” Stratton said, urging members that the intent is to treat “all people, all human beings equally” while…

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