Lawmakers should reject the SB 83, the ‘Selective Samaritan bill’
I remember the very first time I toured the Kentucky State Capital as an 8th grader at Hindman Elementary in Knott County. Our speech team had just placed runner-up in the state and we were invited to Frankfort to be recognized for our accomplishment. I was enamored: “Wow,” I remember thinking, “These people help Kentucky every day.” Well, that was many years ago. These days a lot of bills get passed in Frankfort, but most of them fail to move our state forward.
A year into the COVID-19 pandemic one might think that lawmakers would be diligently working to get the good people of Kentucky back to work. But instead, they occupy their time with bills such as Senate Bill 83, the “rights of conscience” bill. If passed, Senate Bill 83 would allow medical practitioners in the commonwealth to refuse giving treatment to patients on account of their religious or moral beliefs. This makes Senate Bill 83 both reckless and careless.
As a Baptist minister, the most offensive aspect of Senate Bill 83 — and this legislative session – is the way some lawmakers use the Christian faith to justify reckless bills that harm Kentuckians. Representatives are quick to let the good people of Kentucky know that they “prayed on” this bill or that bill. The irony is those same lawmakers tend to trot out tired old prayerful platitudes as they pass laws that are ‘Christian’ in name only.
Senate Bill 83 is a prime example. I’ve started referring to this as the “Selective Samaritan Bill.” You remember that story from Sunday School, right? A lawyer asks Jesus what he might do in order to secure eternal life. Then, Jesus tells a story of a man who was beaten and was left for dead. A priest passes by without helping, and so does a Levite, but then a plot twist — a Samaritan comes upon the injured man. The Samaritan is not supposed to be the hero, but oddly enough Jesus says the Samaritan is the helper. He tends to his wounds, transports him to a local inn, and pays for his stay until he is well. At the end of the story, Jesus asks the lawyer which of the folk was a neighbor to the man who was beaten. The lawyer replied, “the one who showed mercy.” Jesus advised him, “Go and do likewise.”
If Senate Bill 83 were applied to this story, then the folk who passed by the injured man would have been justified. Maybe they didn’t like his looks. Maybe he was a different religion. Who knows what reasons they had to pass him by, but pass by they did. Senate Bill 83 rewards passing by folk in need. It will undoubtedly keep our neighbors who are black, who are addicts, who are immigrants, who are LGBTQ+, or who are poor, from seeking medical care. Kentucky has long been a cellar dweller out of 50 states in almost every health ranking. Lawmakers should be making healthcare accessibility a priority, ensuring all Kentuckians have access to affordable healthcare, not intimidating their neighbors out of going to see a doctor.
Senate Bill 83 was carelessly constructed without the input of the Kentucky Medical Association or the Kentucky Hospital Association. That’s because this reckless bill isn’t about protecting Kentucky’s doctors or nurses, it is about checking another box in a culture war. Back in middle school, I thought legislators gathered from all corners of Kentucky to help people. On my best days, I still think that is the case. That is why lawmakers should reject Senate Bill 83, the “Selective Samaritan Bill.”
Jordan Conley hails from Eastern Kentucky and now lives in Louisville, where he’s a Baptist minister, and a student at Baptist Seminary of Kentucky.