Ohio Law Allows Doctors To Deny Healthcare To LGBTQ+ Patients

Doctors and other medical providers can deny healthcare to LGBTQ+ patients on ‘moral grounds’, as per a new law signed by the state’s Republican governor.

Gwen Stembridge, who works with Equality Ohio, said, ‘It makes it clear that there are people who do not want the LGBTQ+ community to access healthcare and that is not ok.’

‘It should go through the committee process. It should go through the process that a bill goes through, sneaking it in a budget is sneaky and it’s deceitful. It’s a time when they knew people would be distracted and so they snuck it in there and it passed,’ she added.

‘The fear of going to the doctor and of knowing are they going to treat me equally? Am I going to get the care that I need? That is already the question and this just exacerbates that,’ Stembridge said.

While DeWine vetoed some of the amendments to the budget, he didn’t take issue with the LGBTQ+ matter at hand. ‘I think we have to respect people’s rights and people’s ability to make those decisions,’ he said.