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Terminally Ill, He Wanted Aid-In-Dying.: His Catholic Hospital Said No.

JoNel Aleccia. Photos by Heidi de Marco.
Kaiser Health News

[...] Even as an increasing number of U.S. states have legalized aid-in-dying laws, exercising that option is challenging for patients in a country where most large hospital systems have deep…

New York judge tosses Trump administration’s conscience rule: The rule allowed health plans to refuse to cover or perform any services they oppose on religious or moral grounds.

Susannah Luthi
Politico

A federal judge in New York tossed the Trump administration's "conscience rule" that would allow health plans and providers to refuse to cover or perform services like abortion, contraception…

Book Launch: Transparency in Health and Health Care in the United States

September 16, 2019
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Description In June 2019, Cambridge University Press published Transparency in Health and Health Care in the United States. This volume, edited by Holly Fernandez Lynch, I. Glenn Cohen, Carmel Shachar, and…

Mass Medical Society backs end to religious exemption for vaccines

By Alexi Cohan, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Boston Herald

From the article: But C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, said the bill runs counter to both religious freedom and parental rights. “Parents…

2019 Petrie-Flom Center Annual Conference: Consuming Genetics: Ethical and Legal Considerations of New Technologies

May 17, 2019
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Couldn't join us for the conference? Join the conversation on Twitter with #DTCgenome! And check out many of our speakers' slide presentations and our "Consuming Genetics" blog symposium! The…

Transparency in Health and Health Care in the United States

Holly Fernandez Lynch, I. Glenn Cohen, Carmel Shachar, and Barbara J. Evans (eds.)
Cambridge University Press

Read the full introduction online now! This edited volume stems from the Petrie-Flom Center’s 2017 annual conference, which brought together leading experts to reach better understandings of this health…

Junior Fellows Program, Science, Religion, and Culture Program, Harvard Divinity School

Deadline: May 13, 2018

>Read full call

General Description: Open to Master's students across Harvard with research interests in science studies and religious studies, the Junior Fellowship is an opportunity for young scholars to develop their…

Preventing Mitochondrial Diseases: Embryo-Sparing Donor-Independent Options

Eli Y. Adashi and I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Trends in Molecular Medicine

Abstract Mutant mitochondrial DNA gives rise to a broad range of incurable inborn maladies. Prevention may now be possible by replacing the mutation-carrying mitochondria of zygotes or oocytes at risk…

Assisted Reproduction in Israel: Law, Religion, and Culture

Avishalom Westreich
Brill Research Perspectives

From the article: The theme of this composition is the right to procreate in the Israeli context. Our discussion of this right includes the implementation of the right to procreate,…

Assisted Reproduction in Israel: Law, Religion, and Culture

Avishalom Westreich (Visiting Scholar)
Brill

From the article: The theme of this composition is the right to procreate in the Israeli context. Our discussion of this right includes the implementation of the right to procreate,…

Call for Proposals: Technologies’ Impacts on Human Relationships, Institute of Buddhist Studies

Deadline: May 07, 2018
Dr. Steven Barrie-Anthony

(510) 500-9722
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General Description The Institute of Buddhist Studies, with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, invites proposals from scholars across the academic disciplines specializing in any religious traditions,…

Book Launch: Law, Religion, and Health in the United States

September 27, 2017
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In July 2017, Cambridge University Press published Law, Religion, and Health in the United States, co-edited by outgoing Petrie-Flom Center Executive Director Holly Fernandez Lynch, Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen, and…

Call for Proposals, Harvard Divinity School

Deadline: May 31, 2017

>Read full call

Ways of Knowing 2017, the 6th annual graduate conference on religion at Harvard Divinity School, will be held October 26-28, 2017 in on the HDS campus in Cambridge, MA. The…

ORDER NOW & GET 20% OFF! Law, Religion, and Health in the United States

Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director), I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director), and Elizabeth Sepper
Cambridge University Press

About the Book: While the law can create conflict between religion and health, it can also facilitate religious accommodation and protection of conscience. Finding this balance is critical to addressing…

Healing in the Wake of Community Violence: Lessons from Newtown and Beyond: Panel discussion and screening of the documentary Newtown (2016)

April 18, 2017
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Couldn't join us for the event? Check out some of the panelists' slide presentations below! This film screening and panel discussion addressed challenges that arise from tragic acts of…

Religion, Medicine, and Law: Can Current Conflicts Be Healed?: HLS Dean Martha Minow to Deliver 2016 George W. Gay Lecture

Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School

2016 George W. Gay Lecture Religion, Medicine, and Law: Can Current Conflicts Be Healed? Martha Minow Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School Thursday, November 3, 2016, 4:30 …

Bosses in the Bedroom: Religious Employers and the Future of Employer-Sponsored Health Care

Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director) and Gregory Curfman
Law, Religion, and Health in the United States (Holly Fernandez Lynch, I. Glenn Cohen, Elizabeth Sepper, eds.), forthcoming 2017, Cambridge University Press

Abstract: This chapter uses the controversy over mandated contraceptive coverage in employer health plans as a jumping-off point to do two things: (1) evaluate the proper scope of religion in the…

Bosses in the Bedroom: Religious Employers and the Future of Employer-Sponsored Health Care

Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director) and Gregory Curfman
In Law, Religion, and Health in the United States (Holly Fernandez Lynch, I. Glenn Cohen, Elizabeth Sepper, eds.), forthcoming 2017, Cambridge University Press

Abstract: This chapter uses the controversy over mandated contraceptive coverage in employer health plans as a jumping-off point to do two things: (1) evaluate the proper scope of religion in the…

Scalia’s death shakes contraception mandate, other high-profile court cases

Tom Howell Jr., quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director)
Washington Times

[...] Legal analysts it’s not unusual to have different legal treatment from one area to the next. “States do things differently all the time,” said Holly Lynch,…

2015 Annual Conference: Law, Religion, and Health in America

May 8 - 9, 2015
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Join the conversation on Twitter! @PetrieFlom #lawreligionhealth And check out many of the speakers' slide presentations below! Conference Description Religion and medicine have historically gone hand in hand, but increasingly…

After Hobby Lobby: What Is Caesar's, What Is God's?

May 7, 2015
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Couldn't join us in person? Join the conversation on Twitter! @PetrieFlom #lawreligionhealth Pre-Conference Session As prelude to the 2015 Petrie-Flom Center Annual Conference, “Law, Religion, and Health in America,…

What Does Indiana’s Religious Freedom Law Mean For Health Care?

Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director)
Health Affairs Blog

Executive Director Holly Fernandez Lynch spoke on the impact of the Hobby Lobby decision at the Petrie-Flom Center's Third Annual Health Law Year in P/Review in January 2015. In…

Religious colleges seek contraception mandate exception like for-profit companies

Tom Howell Jr., quoting Holly F. Lynch (Executive Director)
Washington Times

From the article: Corporations with religious objections have already been granted relief from Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, but religious colleges and charities are still fighting the administration in court,…

Measles, Vaccines, and Protecting Public Health

February 25, 2015
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Couldn't join us? Watch the full event online! For more on this event, check out the write-ups in the Harvard Gazette (February 27, 2015) and the Harvard Crimson (February 26, 2015)! The measles…

Third Annual Health Law Year in P/Review collaborative blogging with Health Affairs

Petrie-Flom

The Third Annual Health Law Year in P/Review was a big success! Video will be posted on our website shortly, but our presenters will be posting on their respective…

Joining Forces: A Story of Science and Religion in Rural Ghana: A lecture by Student Fellow Lauren Taylor

Humanist Community at Harvard

How do science and religion interact in the delivery of mental health care in one region of Ghana? Lauren Taylor will guide a discussion about the value and limits of …

Third Annual Health Law Year in P/Review

January 30, 2015
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Couldn't make it in person? Check out the individual sessions in the videos linked above and the collaborative blog series on the Health Affairs Blog (links below)! The Third…

No faith in health reform: Christians flock to the health-share model despite restrictions

Caroline Lewis, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director)
Crain's: New York Business

[...] Under the health-care-sharing ministry model, before coverage kicks in, a household pays a monthly fee that "is matched with another's eligible medical bills," according to Christian Care Ministry's…

After Hobby Lobby, ACA exceptions may become the rule

Interview with Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director)
Reuters

Holly Fernandez Lynch analyzes the impact of the Supreme Court's recent decision, saying the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), passed by Congress, will shape the impact as much as…

When Religious Freedom Clashes with Access to Care: A NEJM Perspective Article on the SCOTUS Hobby Lobby Decision

I. Glenn Cohen (Faculty Director), Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director), Gregory Curfman
NEJM

At the tail end of this year's Supreme Court term, religious freedom came into sharp conflict with the government's interest in providing affordable access to health care. In…

Hobby Lobby stunner: Supreme Court issues long-awaited ruling in birth-control dispute

Tom Howell Jr., quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch (Executive Director)
Washington Times

[...] Holly Lynch, a health and ethics expert at Harvard Law School, said she was “not surprised in the least that contraceptives in particular were not covered directly in the…

Everything You Need to Know about the Healthcare Contraception Mandate

Cristina Goyanes, interview with Holly Lynch (Petrie-Flom Executive Director)
Shape

[...] Starting March 25, the U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing religious disputes over the contraception mandate, which requires employer health insurance coverage of contraceptive methods (without deductibles or co-pays). The…

Religious groups to back Obamacare contraceptive mandate: Face dilemma over freedom, government rules on women

Tom Howell, Jr. quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch (Petrie-Flom Executive Director)
Washington Post

[...] In its filing, the AJC said the case presents a rare instance in which they see a clash between religious liberty and the equal rights of women. They said the…

Too good to be true?: Obamacare's religious ministries exemption

Zac Bissonnette, quoting I. Glenn Cohen (Petrie-Flom Faculty Co-Director)
NBC News

[...] The ministries are not regulated for solvency, said I. Glenn Cohen, a professor at Harvard Law School and co-director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics. …

Health Law Year in P/Review

January 31, 2014
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Couldn't attend in person? Learn more about the event: Learn more about the presentations - check out select speakers' slides below! Watch the video of this conference online! (See…

Supreme Court Position on Obamacare Birth Control Mandate a Tough Call

Tom Howell, Jr., quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch
Washington Times

[...] "It also probably will not matter that three of the court’s justices - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan - are female, even if the case…

Supreme Court to decide Obamacare birth control mandate

Tom Howell Jr., quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch
Washington Times

[...] Ms. Lynch said the outcome is a particularly hard one to predict. But she thinks the court will dispense with the constitutional claims and focus more heavily on religious-freedom protection…

Plan B: access to emergency contraception in the legal and political cross hairs

I. Glenn Cohen, Lisa Sullivan, Eli Y. Adashi
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, Contraception Journal

The 8-year legal feud over access to emergency contraception between reproductive health advocates and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took multiple unexpected turns before coming to an abrupt end…

Obamacare becomes test of faith for employer over birth control

Tom Howell, Jr. quoting Holly Fernandez Lynch
The Washington Times

[...] The battle lines are drawn, but analysts of all stripes agree the case is on the fast-track for the highest court in the land. “I think it’s…

Conflicts of Conscience in Health Care

February 27, 2009

On the occasion of publication of a new book on physician conscience clauses written by Holly Fernandez Lynch, this panel examined the legal and ethical aspects of the current debates…