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Feb
27
Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration today will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows healthcare workers to deny abortion counseling or other family planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs, according to administration officials.
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Seven states, including California, Illinois and Connecticut, and two family-planning groups have filed lawsuits challenging the Bush rule. They argue that it sacrifices the health of patients to the religious beliefs of medical providers.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has reported cases, such as that of a Virginia mother of two who became pregnant after she was denied emergency contraception. In Texas, according to the group, a rape victim had her prescription for emergency contraception rejected by a pharmacist.
The Obama administration does not challenge the underlying premise of conscience rules, but the Bush-pushed regulations in late 2008 are overbroad and unncessary.
On Thursday officials stressed that before the administration finalizes the rollback, a standard 30-day comment period seeks input from people across the ideological spectrum.
“We believe that this is a complex issue that requires a thoughtful process where all voices can be heard,” said one official, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the policy change.
The officials said the administration would consider drafting a new rule to clarify what healthcare workers could reasonably refuse to do for their patients.
For more than 30 years, federal law has allowed doctors and nurses to decline to provide abortion services as a matter of conscience, a protection that is not subject to rule making.
The Associated Press and USA Today report the move too.
Additional resource: National Women’s Law Center information on the regulations
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:07 pm February 27th, 2009 in Abortion, Barack Obama, Civil Rights, Ethics, Gender, Health Care, Law, Politics, Science, Social Issues, Women
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3 Responses to “Obama to repeal last-minute Bush “conscience rule” regulations”
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This isn’t just about abortion by the way.
What if you have a pharmacist who is a Scientologist – they can refuse to fill your prescription if you’re bipolar. What if your pharmacist is a Catholic that won’t let you get a prescription filled for any contraception or is a doctor that won’t let you have an IUD/IUC? A Christian Scientist who runs a Walgreens refusing to allow flu shots there? This is especially critical in rural areas where there is no alternative for consumers. Plus it could put a burden on private business to schedule multiple staff so one could fill services the other couldn’t.
I agree that this is like an Amish person taking a job as a bus driver, then refusing to drive but asking to still get paid.
Thanks for the comment, Gregg.
I always go back to the reality of making law: we’re going at it long after the horse is out of the barn. Legislation is an incredibly ineffective way to do anything about behavior.
But few politicians campaign on or govern around helping people make good, fair choices that are consistent with what they believe, and what the people they come in contact are seeking (i.e., if you’re someone who can’t fill scripts because you don’t believe in the meds, you picked the wrong profession – why should someone else suffer for that?).
So has it been repealed? It seems to me the health care bill keeps it in place.