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Stop Bush's Attack on Health Care
The Bush administration is still compromising access to health care.
Despite vocal protests from legislators, advocates and doctors, the administration has officially proposed regulations that could drastically reduce access comprehensive, unbiased health care across the country.
These regulations could expand the right of individuals– not just doctors and nurses – to refuse to participate in or even provide information about medical care that does not fit with their ideology.
The NYCLU and ACLU have worked diligently to maintain a balance between religious freedom and patients’ ability to obtain health care. But these regulations appear to take patients' needs out of the equation.
We cannot allow the Bush Administration to once again put politics and ideology ahead of our ability to get the health care we need.
Abortion and contraception may be the obvious targets of these regulations, but the language is so broad that almost any kind of health care could be affected. Go to the "What's at Stake" page to see how they could affect you.
At a time when more and more Americans are either uninsured or struggling with the soaring costs of health care, the federal government should be expanding access to important health services, not interfering in programs that have successfully provided services for years.
Please personalize and submit the comments below and express your concerns. We must let Secretary Leavitt and the Bush Administration know that these regulations are the wrong move for our country and our health care system. Our diverse voices are powerful. Act Now!
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: I Oppose the Provider Conscience Regulations
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am writing to urge you to stop efforts to block women's access to basic reproductive health services. I understand that the proposed regulations that the Department of Health and Human Services released on August 21, 2008 expand existing law to allow more health care providers and institutions to refuse to provide needed care.
As written, the regulations could allow institutions and individuals -- based on religious beliefs -- to permit individuals to refuse to provide basic health care services, information and counseling. Moreover, they expand existing laws by permitting a wider range of health care professionals to refuse to provide even referrals for abortion services.
For years, state and federal law have carefully balanced protections for individual religious liberty and patients' access to reproductive health care. The proposed regulations appear to take patients' health needs out of the equation. I urge you to restore this important balance and protect access to basic care for the millions of Americans who depend on federally funded health care services.
At a time when more and more Americans are either uninsured or struggling with the soaring costs of health care, the federal government should be expanding access to important health services, not undermining existing protections or interfering in programs that have successfully provided services for years.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
August 25, 2008
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The Bush Administration has proposed regulations that could drastically expand the ability of health care providers to refuse to provide health care that does not fit with their religious or moral beliefs. Depending on how the regulations are interpreted, they could diminish access to health care in the following ways:
Services in hospitals, clinics, and training and research facilities:
Ø The regulations affect all HHS funded entities and could allow employees to refuse to provide referrals or even basic information about services they disagree with.
Ø The regulations could force federally funded health care institutions, including hospitals and clinics, to hire or retain an employee or potential employee who refuses to perform essential job duties.
Interference with State law:
Ø The rule could impede the enforcement of laws enacted to protect patients’ health, including emergency care laws and professional misconduct laws that require health care providers to treat patients in need of care.
Ø The regulation could jeopardize New York’s ability to enforce its law requiring provision of emergency contraception to women in the emergency room, as well as its contraceptive equity law, which requires employers that provide prescription drug coverage to cover contraception.
Impact on vulnerable populations:
Ø This regulation targets the most vulnerable Americans—low income women, young women, and immigrant women who rely on publicly funded clinics.
Ø Without the contraceptive services provided at publicly funded clinics, there would be 46 percent more unintended pregnancies (1.4 million more) annually in the United States than currently occur.
End-of-life decisions:
Ø These regulations could reduce patients’ ability to make end-of-life decisions with dignity when facing terminal illness.
Ø Hospitals could be unwilling or unable to provide the desired care because of threats from employees who have religious objections.
Prevention and care for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections:
Ø The regulations could allow medical professionals to refuse to discuss safer sex and HIV/STI prevention with at-risk patients because of objections to contraception or the patients’ sexual activities or partners.
Ø The regulations could allow medical professionals to refuse services to some people living with HIV/AIDS because of ideological views about how they contracted the virus.
Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and marital status:
Ø These regulations could allow doctors to refuse to provide reproductive technology assistance and fertility care for same sex couples, unmarried couples, or single individuals seeking to have children.
Post-sexual assault care:
Ø The regulations weaken New York’s EC in the ER law, which requires all hospitals in New York State to offer emergency contraception to women in their emergency rooms following a sexual assault.
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