The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU-VA) urges the Board of Medicine (“the Board”) to adopt the proposed regulations for the licensure of genetic counselors in the Commonwealth.

ACLU-VA supports rulemaking for the licensure of genetic counselors that is based on the highest standards of professional competence, and on the values of care and respect for the patient’s autonomy, individuality, welfare, and freedom.

Contrary to those principles, in 2014, a “refusal clause” was written into Virginia Code § 54.1.2957.18-21, allowing licensed genetic counselors to refuse service to patients based on their “deeply held moral or religious beliefs” and to shield them from damages. As a result of this legislation, a state-licensed genetic counselor is permitted, based on the genetic information provided to the counselor, to deny counseling to any patient simply because: the patient is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or gender non-conforming; is of a different religious faith; is unmarried and pregnant; or the person may want to take an action with which the counselor doesn’t personally agree, as some examples. This legislation is so extreme that it will shield a genetic counselor from damages even if the counselor took purposeful action based on his or her personal beliefs that results in actual physical harm or death to the patient. By allowing licensed genetic counselors to discriminate against their patients with impunity, potentially causing them physical harm as a result, this legislation threatens, rather than protects, patient health and safety.

The draft regulations seek to promote, as much as is possible given the constraints of Virginia Code § 54.1.2957.18-21, the health and well-being of all Virginians.  ACLU-VA particularly encourages the Board to approve Section 150(B) (“Exercise of the conscience clause”) of the draft regulations for final adoption. Genetic counseling clients should not be subjected to harmful, misleading, inaccurate, substandard, or incomplete care simply because their religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or personal reproductive healthcare decisions conflict with a genetic counselor’s deeply held moral or religious beliefs. Rather than punishing clients for their genetic counselors’ refusal to provide medically accurate, complete, high-quality care because of their religious or moral beliefs, clients should be informed of any limitations on the counselor’s practice in advance and be provided the opportunity to seek a counselor who can provide complete, accurate, high-quality health care.

We encourage the Board of Medicine to adopt the regulations as drafted by the Advisory Board on Genetic Counseling, and as unanimously approved by the full Board of Medicine on February 18, 2016.