We've been covering the new proposed regulations by the Department of Health and Human Services to allow medical professionals to not only refuse referrals for abortion, but to allow the funding of "crisis pregnancy centers" and push women away from birth control and their reproductive choices.
On September 25th, HHS will close comments to the public, so get to it folks, there's less than a week left. You can submit comments through Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, or email HHS directly.
UPDATE: Hillary Clinton and Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, have a great op-ed in the New York Times today about the proposed rule. A snippet:
The rule would also allow providers to refuse to participate in unspecified "other medical procedures" that contradict their religious beliefs or moral convictions. This, too, could be interpreted as a free pass to deny access to contraception.Many circumstances unrelated to reproductive health could also fall under the umbrella of "other medical procedures." Could physicians object to helping patients whose sexual orientation they find objectionable? Could a receptionist refuse to book an appointment for an H.I.V. test? What about an emergency room doctor who wishes to deny emergency contraception to a rape victim? Or a pharmacist who prefers not to refill a birth control prescription?
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Thanks for posting this!! Every voice counts.
The government should never, ever make decisions about ethics or medicine. Seriously, they always end up screwing everything up.
This really needs to be fixed, because it is the obligation of a doctor to offer the service that s/he has been trained to offer, not to attack the ethics of their patient.
This stuff makes me sick.
Doctors are not there to dig up information on their patient's personal lives they are there to provide assitance to those who need it. Doctors should not be treating patients differently based on their religion. And what gives them the right to turn away people who wish to receive emergency contraception or an HIV test?
Judging people is also against their religious beliefs (and mine so I am trying really really hard not to judge the stupid insurance companies whom for some reason don't cover birth control even though my parents have great insurance that covers just about everything else) so shouldn't they deny themselves their holy than thou attitude instead of denying consumers a service that they are paying for.