WASHINGTON — The Bush administration issued a federal rule Thursday reinforcing protections for doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other procedures because of religious or moral objections.
Critics say the protections are so broad 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 without ramifications from an employer.
Under long-standing federal law, institutions may not discriminate against individuals who refuse to perform abortions or provide a referral for one. The administration’s rule is intended to ensure that federal funds don’t flow to providers who violate those laws, Health and Human Services officials said.
The rule requires recipients of federal funding to certify their compliance with laws protecting conscience rights. Despite multiple laws on the books protecting health providers, the administration argued that the rule was needed “to raise awareness of federal conscience protections and provide for their enforcement.”
But many groups described the rule as a last-minute push designed to make it harder for women to get services such as contraception or counseling in the event they are pregnant and want to learn all of their options.
Several medical associations, more than 100 members of Congress, governors and 13 attorneys general were among the many thousands who wrote the department to protest the rule after it was proposed. Several lawmakers have promised to take up legislation that would overturn the rule once Congress reconvenes in January. Another option is for the Obama administration to issue new regulations that would trump it. The rule will take effect Jan. 18, two days before Obama takes office.
Obama’s transition team did not specifically address the rule Thursday, but spokesman Nick Shapiro issued a statement saying Obama “will review all eleventh-hour regulations and will address them once he is president.”
While campaigning in August, Obama criticized the proposal: “This proposed regulation complicates, rather than clarifies, the law. It raises troubling issues about access to basic health care for women, particularly access to contraceptives,” he said.
The Associated Press
