Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T18:57:12.590Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Civil Rights Law and the Determinants of Health: How Some States Have Utilized Civil Rights Laws to Increase Protections Against Discrimination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Abstract

One fundamental barrier to eliminating health disparities, particularly with regard to the determinants of health, is the persistence of discrimination. Civil rights law is the primary legal mechanism used to address discrimination. Federal civil rights laws have been the subject of wider analyses as a determinant of health as well as a tool to address health disparities. The research on state civil rights laws, while more limited, is growing. This article will highlight a few examples of how some states are using civil rights laws to combat discrimination, particularly in more expansive ways and in the interest of new populations, presenting tools that can target determinants and address the goal of reducing health disparities.

Type
Symposium Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Truman, B. I. et al., “Measuring Progress in Reducing Disparities in HIV, Tuberculosis, Viral Hepatitis, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States: A Summary of This Theme Issue,” American Journal of Public Health 108, no. S4 (2018): S240-S241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healthy People 2020, “Determinants of Health,” available at <https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Determinants-of-Health> (last visited February 15, 2019).+(last+visited+February+15,+2019).>Google Scholar
Frieden, T. R., “A Framework for Public Health Action: The Health Impact Pyramid,” American Journal of Public Health 100, no. 4 (2010): 590-595; Truman et. al., supra note 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Social Determinants of Health: Know What Affects Health,” available at <https://www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/> (last updated February 15, 2019).+(last+updated+February+15,+2019).>Google Scholar
Williams, D. R. and Mohammed, S. A., “Discrimination and Racial Disparities in Health: Evidence and Needed Research,” Journal of Behavioral Medicine 32, no. 1 (2008): 20-47; G. C. Gee and C. L. Ford, “Structural Racism and Health Inequities: Old Issues, New Directions,” Du Bois Review 8, no. 1 (2011): 115-132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGowan, A. K. et al., “Civil Rights Laws as Tools to Advance Health in the Twenty-First Century,” Annual Review of Public Health 37, no. 1 (2016): 185-204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Academies of Sciences, “Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity,” available at <http://nation-alacademies.org/hmd/reports/2017/communities-in-action-pathways-to-health-equity.aspx> (last visited February 15, 2019); Poverty & Race Research Action Council, “Strategies for Health Justice: Lessons from the Field,” available at <https://prrac.org/pdf/health_justice_rpt.pdf> (last visited February 15, 2019).+(last+visited+February+15,+2019);+Poverty+&+Race+Research+Action+Council,+“Strategies+for+Health+Justice:+Lessons+from+the+Field,”+available+at++(last+visited+February+15,+2019).>Google Scholar
See McGowan, supra note 6.Google Scholar
Dovidio, J. F., “Disparities and Distrust: The Implications of Psychological Processes for Understanding Racial Disparities in Health and Health Care,” Social Science & Medicine 67, no. 3: 478-486 (2008); S. R. Rosenbaum et al., “Civil Rights in a Changing Health Care System,” Health Affairs 16, no. 1 (1997): 90-105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, A., and Emamdjomeh, A., “America Is More Diverse Than Ever — but Still Segregated,” The Washington Post, May 10, 2018, available at <https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/segregation-us-cities/?utm_term=.1c417898c0dd> (last visited February 15, 2019).+(last+visited+February+15,+2019).>Google Scholar
Id.; Mayset, A., “Race, Race-Based Discrimination, and Health Outcomes among African Americans,” Annual Review of Psychology 58 (2007): 201-225.Google Scholar
Gee and Ford, supra note 5.Google Scholar
Brand, J., “The Far-Reaching Impact of Job Loss and Unemployment,” Annual Review of Sociology 41 (2015): 359-375; R. M. Tolman and H.-C. Wang, “Domestic Violence and Women's Employment: Fixed Effects Models of Three Waves of Women's Employment Study Data,” American Journal of Community Psychology 36, nos. 1-2 (2005): 147-158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Brand, supra note 14; Williams and Emamdjomeh, supra note 10.Google Scholar
Dovidio, J.,et al.,Federal Register 81 (2008): at 31444.Google Scholar
Supra note 7.Google Scholar
Dierenfield, B. J., The Civil Rights Movement (New York: Routledge, 2004): at xv-xxi; G. A. Rutherglen, Civil Rights in the Shadow of Slavery: The Constitution, Common Law, and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013): at 126.Google Scholar
Id., at xv-xxi.Google Scholar
Raban, O., “Conflicts of Rights: When the Federal Constitution Restricts Civil Liberties,” Rutgers Law Review 64 (2012): 381-408, at 383.Google Scholar
Wood, T., “Preempting Discrimination: Lessons from the Genetic Information and Nondiscrimination Act,” University of the Pacific Law Review 49 (2018): 309.Google Scholar
National Institutes of Health, “Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008,” available at <https://www.genome.gov/10002328/genetic-discrimination-fact-sheet/> (last visited February 15, 2019); see Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, 42 U.S.C. §§ 300gg-53, 1320d-9, 2000ff, 200ff-1-2000ff-11.+(last+visited+February+15,+2019);+see+Genetic+Information+Nondiscrimination+Act+of+2008,+42+U.S.C.+§§+300gg-53,+1320d-9,+2000ff,+200ff-1-2000ff-11.>Google Scholar
DC ST § 2-1402.31.Google Scholar
Wood, supra note 22.Google Scholar
W.S.A. 111.31.Google Scholar
Healthy People 2020, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health,” available at <https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-health> (last visited February 15, 2019).+(last+visited+February+15,+2019).>Google Scholar
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 118.020.Google Scholar
Mich. Comp. Laws. § 37.2102.Google Scholar
Chandra, A.,et al., “Challenges to Reducing Discrimination and Health Inequity through Existing Civil Rights Laws,” Health Affairs 36, no. 6 (2017): 1041-1047.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healthy People 2020, “Disparities,” available at <https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Disparities> (last visited last visited February 15, 2019).+(last+visited+last+visited+February+15,+2019).>Google Scholar
New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262, 311 (1932) (Brandeis, J., dissenting).Google Scholar