The Bush administration, in its final days, has issued a federal rule reinforcing protections for doctors and other healthcare workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other procedures because of religious or moral objections.
Critics of the rule say the protections are so broad that they limit a patient’s right to get care and accurate information. For example, they fear the rule could make it possible for a pharmacy clerk to refuse to sell birth-control pills and face no ramifications from an employer. Under longstanding federal law, institutions may not discriminate against individuals who refuse to perform abortions or provide a referral for one. The new rule is intended to ensure that federal funds don’t flow to providers who violate those laws.
“Doctors and other healthcare providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience,” said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt.
The rule requires recipients of HHS funding to certify their compliance with laws protecting conscience rights. Despite multiple laws on the books protecting healthcare providers from participating in abortions or sterilizations, the administration argued that the rule was needed “to raise awareness of federal conscience protections and provide for their enforcement.”
Several medical associations as well as a group of 13 attorneys general were among the many thousands who wrote to the department to protest the rule after it was proposed. -- by the Associated Press
