Action Alert: HHS Rule Change Public Comment

The Obama Admin has opened up for public comment on rescinding the HHS "Conscience" Rule that passed in the twilight of the Bush Admin. As Liss noted earlier this month:

The Bad News: Team Obama reportedly does not want to jettison the idea of a conscience clause altogether:

The Obama administration supports the underlying federal laws that protect conscience rights, said the HHS official.

But the administration was concerned that the Bush regulation could also be used to refuse birth control, family planning services and counseling for vaccines and transfusions.

"The administration supports a tightly written conscience clause," said the HHS official. "While we are concerned about the Bush rule, we also understand there might be a need to clarify existing laws."

That sounds to me like there's a distinct possibility the administration may not have a problem with a rule allowing medical professionals to refuse to perform even emergency abortions and dispense emergency contraception to sexual assault survivors—two major concerns regarding the original rule change. Ugh.

Graanted, it's one AP article, so I'll take a cautiously optimistic approach and wait and see what the administration's official line is (which we should know soon).

That said, I'm going to be profoundly unhappy with any federal support of conscience clauses.

As am I--and, I'm guessing, most of us here.

Compassion & Choices, a group that advocates for the right of choice in end-of-life matters, is also opposed to this rule. I don't believe we've touched on end-of-life/palliative care being affected by this law before but it certainly is another aspect of medical care that can--but should not--hang in the balance. At Compassion & Choices, they believe that: "This ill-conceived rule will surely obstruct and delay good care in many instances and increase the suffering of dying patients and their loved ones."

Yet another reason to oppose and request that the Obama admin wholly & absolutely rescind this rule. They have a form letter on their site that you can use to send a letter and have your voice heard: just click here. Planned Parenthood also has a form letter that you can email to voice your support for repealing the rule.