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Let's Get Ideology out of Medicine!
It is important that Health and Human Services hear from as many people as possible to rescind this harmful rule. Please take action immediately. Send this letter today.
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Subject: Let's Get Ideology out of Medicine
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I urge you to rescind the rule entitled "Ensuring that Department of Health and Humans Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies or Practices in Violation of Federal Law." It is a dangerously vague and expansive rule that reduces access to health services and information not only for women seeking reproductive services, but also for those seeking help with any medical condition about which there is controversy based on ideology.
The rule prioritizes the private consciences of providers above the health needs of patients because it permits all medical personnel, from receptionists to surgeons, to refuse their services without warning. The harm to patients could be devastating, especially to those dependent on medical facilities in remote rural areas where alternative health care providers are few, if any. Making this harm even more intolerable is the fact that the health care facility they assumed would help them is funded in part by their own tax dollars.
The rule defines abortion so loosely that it could allow health workers to refuse to provide contraception as well as abortion services. Other services, such as treatment for infertility or HIV/AIDS or information about end-of-life care, in fact any medical procedure that might be the object of ideological prejudice, are similarly affected by the rule's vague and expansive language.
In addition, the rule's requirement that certain recipients provide written certification of compliance with the statutes underlying the rule (namely, the Church Amendments, the Public Health Service Act, and the Weldon Amendment) is excessively burdensome. Organizations receiving federal funds should not be required to provide time consuming written assurances, particularly when the underlying statutes do not contemplate such written certifications.
Please rescind the provider refusal regulation as soon as possible. Health care workers voluntarily choose their profession, but patients don't choose to need help. Without reasonable justification, the regulation elevates a health care worker's personal feelings over their patients' medical needs. This is intolerable and should be stopped.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
March 13, 2009
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The Obama Administration has initiated the process to rescind a harmful regulation issued by the Department of Health and Human Services - one of the infamous 'midnight regulations' - that became effective on the last day of the Bush Administration.
This HHS regulation threatens to dramatically undermine access to a broad range of health information and services by essentially allowing health care workers and institutions an unfettered ability to refuse to provide health care services, information, and referrals that offend their religious beliefs or moral convictions.
The regulation fails to balance patient needs against the desire of health care workers to refuse to provide services by upending the notion of informed consent and creating confusion in situations where the health and well-being of patients should be the top priority. It also threatens unduly harsh penalties and is sure to sow confusion because it is vague, broad in scope, and fails to acknowledge any interactions with existing federal and state employment laws.
In finalizing the regulation, the Bush Administration ignored an avalanche of comments from Congress, the medical, legal, and women's communities, and the government's own Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, all urging that the rule be abandoned.
The HHS regulation offers an interpretation of three existing federal laws (known as the Weldon federal refusal law, the Church amendments, the Coats amendment) which give individuals and institutions the ability to refuse to provide abortion or sterilization services based on religious or moral objections. HHS published the regulatory change on December 19, 2008, and it became effective January 20, 2009. Recipients of federal funds subject to the rule must fill out forms certifying compliance prior to October 1, 2009.
On January 15, 2009, three lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut asking the court to block the controversial regulation. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed suit on behalf of his state and six others (California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island), alleging that the regulation is too vague and overbroad and conflicts with other federal and state laws. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed a second suit on behalf of its affiliates, while the American Civil Liberties Union filed sued on behalf of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which represents providers of publicly funded family planning services.
The proposed rule to rescind the HHS refusal regulation is being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Thanks to our friends at the National Partnership for Women and Families for this information.
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