By Louise Melling, Director, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project
Last Thursday the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released proposed regulations (PDF) that could seriously undermine women's access to reproductive health services, including birth control and abortion. Now the public has 30 days to let the Bush administration know precisely what we think of these regulations. Click here for our Action Alert, which will allow you to send comments to HHS.
The Bush administration is trying to spin the proposed regulations as a necessary means of protecting health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions. But federal law has long carefully balanced protections for individual religious liberty and patients' access to reproductive health care. It's disingenuous to suggest otherwise.
At the request of some Daily KOs bloggers, I'm reposting this entry for other bloggers to see. The reason is due to the fact that yesterday was 'announce V.P.' day for Obama, to which some believed the value of this diary was neglected.
In summary, the Bush Administration plans to pass a regulation allowing HCPs not only the right to refuse service over a medical procedure they find morally objectionable, but to also withhold information from the patient of other locations that would provide the service. This would include things such as abortion, Plan B contraception, etc.
The wording within the regulation is incredibly loose and requires a substantial amount of money to be passed. It could also lead to other potential patient rights violations.
We all have our personal and religious beliefs, but could someones' opinion over abortion and the sanctity of human life contain anymore potential to violate another individual's rights? Thankfully, we can all rest assured that the Bush Administration plans to provide us with an answer to this mind-boggling question. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times taken from Washington Post writer Rob Stein states...
The Bush administration Thursday annnounced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect antiabortion healthcare workers from being required to deliver services against their personal beliefs.
The rule empowers federal health officials to pull funding from more than 584,000 hospitals, clinics, health plans, doctors' offices and other entities that do not accommodate employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable on personal, moral or religious grounds.
Welcome to the 2nd installment of YOUR SUNDAY ATHEIST.
This week we will discuss a few different items in the news with a common theme. Click on the headlines below to read the entire articles that are referenced after the jump:
Links to PREVIOUS EDITIONS of YOUR SUNDAY ATHEIST: Please check out last week's premiere edition of the series by following this Link Reminder: It is never too late to add your own comments, tips & recs to a diary entry.
MoveOn.org mobilizes its 3.5 million members to stop the Bush Administration's attempt to define contraception as abortion. RH Reality Check is cited as source.
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt is awfully proud of the controversy from the recent draft regulation on what he calls "Physician Conscience:"
"I’m delighted to announce that with the help of Planned Parenthood, my blog -- for the first time -- received more visits than my teenage son’s MySpace page."
Congratulations, Mr. Leavitt! But what about our fear that your new regulation will redefine contraception as abortion -- and reduce access, especially among low-income women, to birth control?
On that topic this is all Mr. Leavitt had to say:
"This regulation would not be aimed at changing or redefining any of that."
HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt blogs again about the proposed HHS regulations that redefine contraception as abortion, without mentioning the word contraception. But he demonstrates he knows how to play the game of far-right ideological abortion politics.
Kansans resoundingly reject social conservative Phill Kline, again, and give a narrow victory to Pro-Choice Republican Lynn Jenkins over former far-right Congressman Jim Ryun. These two elections in formerly Red and still conservative Kansas may signal end times for social conservative dominance of the GOP.
If you haven't seen the video clip of McCain flaking out after being asked about insurance companies covering Viagra but not the Pill, you should check it out. I love the way he grumbles "I certainly do not want to discuss that" as though someone just asked him to describe his favorite sexual position (sorry to put that image in your head), instead of a simple question about health care that directly concerns half the population. Dude proved himself a fossil right then and there. And by fossil, I mean culturally old-school; Justice John Paul Stevens may be 88, but he's younger than McCain.
It seems the Bush administration has developed an exit strategy -- unfortunately the target is right here on our home soil. The still-in-office Bush administration is trying to kill two birds with one stone, and those birds are named Health Care and Reproductive Rights.
It is proposing a complicatedly worded (the main clause has a triple negative) rule. It would demand that any organization or institution that receives federal aid from the Department of Health and Human Services will not be eligible for aid unless it signs a written certification saying that it will not refuse to hire providers, doctors or nurses that refuse to provide abortion and even many forms of contraception.
Planned Parenthood said the ad is being aimed at women voters, and will be broadcast during the season premiere of "Project Runway," on Bravo, Lifetime’s "Army Wives," and "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in some markets. It will air in battleground states, including Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin, as well as in the Washington, D.C. area.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has drafted regulations that would re-define contraception as abortion and prioritize "religiously held objections" to providing contraception over women's rights and health.
The Department of Health and Human Services Monday released a proposal that allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to contraception. In order to do this, the Department is attempting to redefine many forms of contraception as abortion.
Naomi Klein is on Democracy Now. Yep, I'm still a guy. She's a beautiful, incredibly intelligent and highly educated woman. I could hope to come across as well as she does, but I don't think my mug would measure up. I better stick to writing and keep my face off the television.
Funny story (okay, not really). I wrote about the Feith Hearing yesterday. Then I found an old DK diary written in June that made me think I had my facts wrong. In what can only be described as a fit of hysterical self doubt I deleted a diary which was absolutely factual and correct, and important. [sigh]
In case you do not know, Doug Feith is one of the dirty, slimy snakes who helped justify the administration's torture policies. He boasted to author Philippe Sands that he was a "real player" in Cheney's torture program. I look to history for the only justice I still have faith in. I hope I can find a way to view or listen to the hearing.
McCain is intent on winning more women voters. Don't let him get away with distancing himself from his long record of hostility to issues women care about.
He is perpetrating a fraudulent campaign, assisted by surrogate to women Carly Fiorina, where he portrays himself as sensitive and a viable choice for women. Carly has lied on his behalf on the campaign trial.
In this clip when a reporter confronts on one such lie. McCain asked to defend his vote against requiring health insurance to cover contraception. After squirming and stammering (a delight to see) McCain professes not to remember and says, "I haven't thought much about this."
