Bush Administration Not Acting in Good "Conscience" - Elevating Physician's Right Over Patient Needs
With only a few months to go in the Bush administration, the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) is trying to sneak new regulations past the American public that are certain to create roadblocks to reproductive health care – including birth control.
These regulations greatly expand the right of health care providers to refuse care – including services, information and counseling – if they have a moral or religious objection. In doing so, the regulations elevate a provider’s conscience above the health and well-being of patients (learn more).
Urgent: We only have until this Thursday, September 25 – just few days left – to object to this thinly veiled attempt to limit access to reproductive health services. Tell HHS Secretary Leavitt it's time to put public health ahead of the Bush administration's dangerous ideology.
I am writing to oppose the so-called "provider conscience regulations" proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services on August 26.
These regulations are an unnecessary attempt to inject politics and ideology into health care decision-making, and interfere with patients' access to reproductive health care. They are counter-productive and designed to cause confusion and conflict. They should be rejected.
The Department offers no concrete evidence of the need for this regulatory action. There is no need to extend the reach of laws allowing workers to raise religious or moral objections to abortion or sterilization services, no problem to solve. These regulations would allow almost anyone in the workplace to object to a particular health service, ignoring long-standing civil rights laws already in place that accommodate religious beliefs and carefully balance the needs of employees and employers.
This proposal is a thinly veiled attempt to make it more difficult for women to access the reproductive health services they need. It opens the door for institutions and individuals to define abortion broadly, even to encompass commonly used methods of birth control. The effect will be to limit women's access to contraception.
I strongly urge you to put the public health ahead of your ideology and abandon any further action on these regulations.
[Your Comments]
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
