Related Pages
Ending Abortion
How You Can Help in Any of
a Number of Ways
Sign the Petition
to Protect Pro-life Doctors
Contact Your Elected
Officials
Sample Letters on Current
Issues
Sample Letters on a Current Issue
Support Health Care Providers' Conscience Protections
Oppose President Obama's Plan to Rescind the Health Care Providers'
Conscience Rule
Support the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (ANDA)
(S.96)
Oppose the Protecting Patients and Health Care Act of 2009
(H.R. 570)
Even after April 9, 2009, it's still not to late to make
a difference on this issue.
On this issue, be sure to send a version to the Department of Health and
Human Services (sample letters and
addresses provided).
Also, using the sample letter(s) on this issue and
the other resources related to it, please put a letter
in your own words (or use a sample letter as is), and mail it to your
federal House
representative and your
two federal
senators as well as
President Obama.
It's much better to send a form letter than not to send a letter at all.
Sample Letters on This Issue
Also, Let's Flood the White House Comments Line on
This Issue
Summary of the Health Care Providers' Conscience
Rule
Contact Information for HHS
Summary of S. 96
Summary of H.R. 570
Video on This Issue
(See message from Cardinal Francis George,
president of the USCCB.)
More on This Issue
What "Pro-choice" People Think about the Conscience
Rule
Text of the Health Care Providers' Conscience
Rule
Text of the HHS Proposal to Rescind
the Conscience Rule
Text of S. 96
Text of H.R. 570
Track S. 96
Track H.R. 570
Sample Letters on This Issue
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 1 (based
on USCCB comments to HHS, March 23, 2009)
Downloadable in ODT, DOC, and RTF formats.
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 2 (full
USCCB comments to HHS, March 23, 2009)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 3 (based
on an NCHLA, National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, letter)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 4
(refutations of claims of opponents of
the current providers' conscience rule)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 5 (based
on a Susan B. Anthony List letter)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 6 (based
on a Freedom2Care.org letter from patients)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 7 (based
on a Freedom2Care.org letter from health care professionals)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 8 (based
on a message from Cardinal Francis George, President of the USCCB)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 9 (based
on NCHLA, National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, talking points)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 10 (long
letter)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 11
(inspired by comments by Heartbeat
International President, Peggy Hartshorn)
Letter to the Department
of Health and Human Services 12 (based
on a letter by Democratic senators Casey and Nelson)
Letter to the
President 1 (based on a Susan B. Anthony
List letter)
Letter to the
President 2 (based on an ACLJ.org
petition)
Letter to the
President 3 (based on a letter by
Rep. John Fleming, M.D., which members of Congress are invited to sign)
Letter to the
President 4 (based on a letter by
Senator Tom Coburn, M.D., which members of Congress are invited to sign)
Letter to the
President 5 (based on a letter by
Cardinal Francis George to President Obama January 16, 2009)
Letter to Congress
1 (based on several sources)
Letter to Congress
2 (based on a Susan B. Anthony
letter)
Also, Let's Flood the White House Comments
Line on This Issue
Princeton University professor
Dr.
Robert George and many others are asking all men and women of goodwill
to (along with writing HHS, the President, and Congress) flood the White
House comments line with calls opposing the proposed rescission of the HHS
health care providers' conscience rule.
Even after April 9, please make this call Mon. - Fri., 9 AM - 5 PM Eastern
(8 AM - 4 PM Central), and ask to leave a message for the President.
-
To avoid a busy signal, call the White House switchboard at
202-456-1414, and ask to be connected to the comments line;
-
Or call the comments line directly at 202-456-1111 (you may encounter
more busy signals when dialing this number).
In your message for the President you might say that you want the HHS health
care providers' "freedom of conscience" rule to be kept in place and that
you will hold him responsible to protect health care providers' conscience
rights, religious freedom, and the right to life of the unborn and that there
will be consequences at the ballot box for those legislators who fail to
protect these rights and freedoms.
(Just so you know, on this issue, the White House comments-line
operator/volunteer who takes your message will pass on only whether you are
for or against the removal of the HHS health care providers' conscience
rule/protections, but it won't hurt the operator to hear something such as
the above.) If the line is busy, please keep trying until you can leave your
message. Thank you.
Summary of the Health Care Providers'
Conscience Rule
Sources:
http://www.sba-list.org/c.ddJBKJNsFqG/b.4179747/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?aid=11823&msource=c4alerts&tr=y&auid=4566039
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-conscience-rulefeb27,0,1515759.story
http://www.lifenews.com/nb188.html
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/12/20081218a.html
Oppose
President Obama's Plan to Rescind the Health Care Providers' Conscience
Rule
President Obama is considering overturning the health care providers' conscience
rule (also known as conscience regulations or the providers' conscience clause),
conscience protections for health care providers. The administration has
said that it is looking for input from people across the ideological spectrum
before it would finalize the rollback of these regulations. The conscience
rule implements and enforces longstanding federal laws protecting conscience
rights of health care providers -- hospitals, doctors, nurses, and others.
Toward the administration's aim, the Department of Health and Human Services
proposed its rescission of the entire rule and opened a 30-day comment period,
during which we've been invited by the administration, through HHS, to comment
on this issue.
Even after April 9, 2009, it's still
not to late to make a difference on this issue.
Technically, we're now at the last day of that 30-day comment period, because
the stated deadline for contacting HHS is April 9, 2009. However, I've been
told the following by someone at HHS who is directly involved in this process:
-
Not only will letters to HHS postmarked by 11:59 PM on April 9 definitely
be considered, but all other letters that get delivered to HHS will be opened;
-
It remains to be seen how long the special HHS e-mail address and telephone
comments line will remain open.
So, while I ask you to send your comments to HHS today, if possible, and
otherwise as soon as possible, unless you're prevented by HHS, don't think
that it's too late to send your comments to that department.
And if and when HHS does stop accepting comments, until a final decision
is made regarding the health care providers' rule, it's still not too late
to contact Congress and the President.
The health care providers' conscience rule is separate from the
conscience-related bills in Congress, S. 96 and H.R. 570. President Obama
can rescind the health care providers' conscience rule in the same way
that he rescinded the Mexico City Policy, which had ensured that taxpayer
money was not used overseas to fund abortion providers.
President Bush put into place these conscience regulations to provide better
enforcement of laws helping medical professionals avoid being forced to aid
in abortion-related activities. The regulations are intended to educate health
care professionals as well as the general public about the rights of medical
personnel to treat their patients in accordance with their consciences, free
from discrimination or intimidation. They also give health care professionals
a way to press charges in the event that they experience discrimination.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the rule
does from the following:
-
Clarifies that non-discrimination protections apply to institutional health
care providers as well as to individual employees working for recipients
of certain funds from HHS;
-
Requires recipients of certain HHS funds to certify their compliance with
laws protecting provider conscience rights; and
-
Designates the HHS Office for Civil Rights as the entity to receive complaints
of discrimination addressed by the existing statutes and the regulation.
Write to HHS, your Congress members, and President Obama today, and
call the White House comments line and tell them
that you don't want the health care providers' conscience rule to be rescinded.
Tell them that you support the rights of nurses, doctors, and other health
care entities to refuse to provide or refer for abortions and that, for that
matter, you support providers' rights to refuse to participate in any activities
that violate their consciences or moral beliefs.
Contact Information for HHS
Mail (one original and two
copies):
Office of Public Health and Science
Department of Health and Human Services
Attention: Rescission Proposal Comments
Hubert H Humphrey Building
200 Independence Ave SW Room 716G
Washington DC 20201
E-mail:
proposedrescission@hhs.gov
(Attachments to e-mail to HHS should be in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or
Excel. HHS prefers Microsoft Word.)
Phone:
HHS comments line voice mail: 202-205-5445
Summary of S. 96
Source:
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/bills/?bill=12425596
Support
Abortion Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 (S. 96):
To prohibit certain abortion-related discrimination in governmental
activities
The Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (ANDA), sponsored by Senator David Vitter
(R-LA) and introduced on January 6, 2009, would prohibit health care providers
from being penalized for declining to participate in providing abortions.
The bill would cover individual health care professionals, hospitals, insurers,
and other health care providers. National Right to Life (NRLC) supports
ANDA.
Summary of H.R. 570
Source:
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/bills/?bill=12547191
Oppose
Protecting Patients and Health Care Act of 2009 (H.R. 570):
To make certain regulations have no force or effect
[Elimination of the health care providers' conscience rule]
In 2008, the Bush Administration published a new regulation to improve
enforcement of several federal laws that shield health-care providers from
being penalized if they refuse to participate in providing abortions. This
new rule took formal effect on January 20, 2009.
H.R. 570 is a bill that would nullify the above pro-life regulation. H.R.
570 is sponsored by Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO 1st) and
was introduced on January 15, 2009. National Right to Life (NRLC) supports
the conscience regulation, and therefore opposes this bill.
Video on This Issue
Protecting Conscience
Rights in Health Care: Our Voice is Needed!
http://usccb.org/conscienceprotection/
Cardinal Francis George, Archdiocese of Chicago and president of the
USCCB, urges Catholics to write to HHS and tell them to keep conscience
protections for health care workers. Also see videos by a registered nurse,
a doctor, and two medical students. You can read the text of Cardinal George's
message at
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-058.shtml
The video is also at YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NoCRwMqVzQ&feature=channel_page
President Obama To
Reverse Bush's "Conscience Rule" Of Abortion Regulations For
Doctors!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcsBSVPWcEE
Senator Tom Coburn, a doctor, talks about the need to retain the conscience
rule and says he'd go to jail before he'd perform an abortion.
A Special Message from Future
Nurses of America
http://www.beheardproject.com/
Future nurses ask President Obama not to rescind the conscience clause. You
can sign a petition there, too, but please also write a letter to HHS, the
President, and your legislators.
Dana Perino On Conscience
Clause
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rmV_3_phm0
A brief announcement by the Bush administration's press secretary about the
HHS health care providers' conscience rule put in place December 19, 2008.
More on This Issue
Head
of USCCB Meets with Obama: Also Releases Video Saying Decision on Conscience
Protection a Move Towards "Despotism"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09031706.html
"... On the same day that Cardinal Francis George released a
video expressing, on
the behalf of all American bishops, his deep concern about the Obama
administration's decision to rescind conscience protection regulations put
in place by the Bush administration, he has met with President Obama at the
White House. ... The statements from the White House and the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) give few details about what the Cardinal
and the President spoke about, although the timing of the release of the
Cardinal's video may indicate that the conscience protection regulations
were at the top of the agenda. ..."
You can see Cardinal George's video message at the following:
http://usccb.org/conscienceprotection/ and at the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NoCRwMqVzQ&feature=channel_page
You can read the text of his message at the following:
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-058.shtml
Comments
Submitted to HHS on Behalf of the USCCB by General Counsel Anthony Picarello
and Michael Moses
http://www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection/hhs_comments_conscience_09final.pdf
"... It is the Administration's constitutional duty to enforce the laws enacted
by Congress, including the conscience protection statutes at issue here.
Congress had made its policy choice -- a choice that respects and advances
this Nations's founding principles of religious liberty and diversity, and
that tends to increase patients' ready access to basic health care, regardless
of their location or socio-economic status. The Administration's regulatory
actions should faithfully enforce that existing policy choice. ..." [See
HTML version.
See a sample letter
you can send based on these comments.]
Questions
and Answers: Defending the Conscience Rights Regulation
http://www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection/q_and_a.shtml
-
What is the conscience rights regulation?
-
What do these federal laws guarantee?
-
If these laws already exist, why do we need the regulation?
-
How does the regulation address these problems?
-
Why has the Obama Administration sought to rescind the regulation?
-
Does conscience protection hinder women's "access" to some health care?
-
Isn't the religious freedom of health care providers protected by the
Constitution?
-
Have threats to conscientious objection become worse in recent years?
-
How can an individual help?
Health
care workers urge Obama not to rescind conscience rights
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0901614.htm
"... Dr. John T. Bruchalski would rather close the doors of his highly successful
Fairfax, Va., medical practice than violate his conscience if he is forced
to offer services that violate the basic tenets of his Catholic faith. ...
Bruchalski was not alone in his sentiments. He joined 40 other doctors,
anesthesiologists, physician assistants, pharmacists and nurses -- all donned
in white coats or operating-room scrubs -- who packed the press conference
to address their concerns a day before a monthlong public comment period
on the HHS plan ends. ..."
Catholic Leader Urges President
Obama to Keep Protections for Pro-Life Doctors
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4919.html
"... Cardinal Francis George, the president of the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops, is asking Obama to not follow through on his proposal
to rescind the protections and he is asking pro-life advocates to send the
president the same message. ... 'No government should come between an individual
person and God -- that's what America is supposed to be about,' Cardinal
Francis George said. ... He said he wants pro-life advocates to 'let the
government know that you want conscience protections to remain strongly in
place. In particular, let the Department of Health and Human Services in
Washington know that you stand for the protection of conscience, especially
now for those who provide the health care services so necessary for a good
society' ..."
You can see Cardinal George's video message at the following:
http://usccb.org/conscienceprotection/ and at the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NoCRwMqVzQ&feature=channel_page
You can read the text of his message at the following:
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-058.shtml
Democratic Senators Tell
Obama Not to Rescind Abortion Protections for Doctors
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4952.html
"... Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania sent Obama
a letter last week telling him that the Provider Conscience Clause should
remain. ... '"We believe it is very important that federally funded health
care providers and entities not be discriminated against because they refuse
to participate in procedures or activities which are a violation of their
consciences ... Such providers and entities should not be forced to participate
in any activities violating their beliefs in order to continue providing
vital health care services ..." [See the
full letter and a
sample letter
based on it.]
Welcome to Freedom2Care!
http://freedom2care.org/
Here's another way to contact HHS. Health care providers can e-mail a personal
comment or a pre-written one prepared for them, and others/patients can e-mail
a personal comment or a pre-written comment prepared for them. As LifeNews.com
reports, the web site is also collecting stories of discrimination so that
Freedom2Care can have more proof that discrimination of conscience is a very
real threat. Additionally, visitors have the opportunity to have their comments
forwarded to lawyers who perform pro-bono work, so pro-life medical staff
can receive legal help for their situations where they may be pressured to
participate in abortions. The Catholic Medical Association is also involved
in the new web site. [Note: the Sample Letters on This
Issue area at CatholicAnew includes edited version of the Freedom2Care.org
form letters.]
Medical Professionals Ask
Obama to Keep Abortion Conscience Protections
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4927.html
"... Several medical professionals have recorded new videos that are being
sent to the Obama administration asking President Barack Obama to keep abortion
conscience protections in place. Obama is considering rescinding the additional
protections President Bush gave medical staff. ... These videos can be found
along with other USCCB pro-life resources and a link to contacting Health
and Human Services at
http://www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection."
Real-Life
Stories
http://freedom2care.org/docLib/20090313_needforconscienceprotection.pdf
According to http://freedom2care.org/learn/ -- "The real-life examples in
the document ... demonstrate the often subtle, sometimes flagrant and
increasingly pervasive discrimination faced by pro-life, faith-based and
conscience-driven individuals in the healthcare professions. These examples
illustrate the need for regulation, legislation and education regarding
conscience protections in healthcare -- which serve to protect both the patient
and the professional. Some cases also point to a critical need to counter
a partisan ideology festering within the medical community. That ideology
is fomenting a climate of intolerance for pro-life and faith-based positions
and is triggering new mandates for performing or referring for abortions
and other ethically controversial procedures and prescriptions."
Euthanasia for
boomers
http://www.inforumblog.com/?p=2214
"... Imagine that it is 2016, and you are a 65 year old boomer. ... your
old family practice physician, who had taken care of you for 20 years, is
not around. A religious man, he quietly retired from medical practice in
2014, after the full force of the Obama administration's removal of conscience
protection for physicians in February, 2009, came into effect. ... Your doctor
(and many other Americans) believed that failure to protect physician conscience
will destroy the trust and accountability that is essential to the physician
patient relationship. If the physician and patient cannot freely collaborate,
ultimately another agenda -- that of the health plan or state -- will replace
it, to everyone's detriment. ..."
Obama Can't Say He's Pro-Choice
by Dropping Protections for Pro-Life Doctors
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4895.html
"... respected pro-life attorney Matt Bowman of the Alliance Defense Fund
... 'President Obama is utterly refusing to enforce these conscience protection
laws, resulting in a situation where doctors may be forced to participate
in abortions and patients may be forced to have their babies delivered by
doctors who perform abortions ... Whatever happened to the so called 'right
to choose? ... The Obama administration is quite simply collaborating with
Planned Parenthood and their allies to allow pro-life medical professionals
to be punished for their beliefs, with the punishment to be funded by your
federal dollars. ..."
Obama Takes Next Step to
Scrap Protections for Pro-Life Doctors on Abortion
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4893.html
President Barack Obama has taken the next step to remove the new protections
the Bush administration put in place to protect pro-life medical centers
and staff who do not want to do abortions. ... The Bush administration put
the protections in place after learning that medical centers and staff were
facing increasing pressure to be involved in abortions despite three federal
laws prohibiting such discrimination. ... Because of the objections from
pro-abortion groups, the Obama administration makes it clear the entire Provider
Conscience Clause protecting medical professionals should be scrapped.
'Accordingly, we believe it would benefit the Department to review this rule,
accept further comments, and reevaluate the necessity for regulations
implementing the statutory requirements,' it concludes. "Thus, the Department
is proposing to rescind the December 19, 2008 final rule, and we are soliciting
public comment to aid our consideration of the many complex questions surrounding
the issue and the need for regulation in this area," the administration says.
Susan Muskett, an attorney who is the senior legislative counsel for National
Right to Life talked with LifeNews.com about the Obama administration's move.
'These conscience protection regulations were carefully crafted by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services after soliciting public comments
and a lengthy period of review,' she said. 'Once again, the Obama Administration
is doing the bidding of pro-abortion advocacy groups, which wish to penalize
health-care providers who refuse to participate in providing abortions.'
The publication of the proposal to rescind the Provider Conscience Clause
opens up a 30-day public comment period, after which Obama will likely roll
back the protections for medical personnel and facilities. ..."
Pro-Life Senator Will Protest
Doing Abortions If Obama Overturns Health Rules
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4875.html
"... Coburn told the Cybercast News Service on Friday that he will join tens
of thousands of other medical professionals who would rather go to jail than
be forced to do an abortion. 'I think a lot of us will go to jail ... Let's
see them prosecute the first one of us for not doing that.' ..."
Obama Chronicles
V: Contrary to conscience
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/brown/090303
"... Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose
between good professional standing and violating their conscience. This rule
protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord
with their conscience. ... While all the clever posturing has convinced even
some very good people that the Obama administration is really not doing anything
that draconian, others have had quite the opposite position, and for that
I am eternally grateful. ..."
Physicians:
Obama plan will 'shut down hospitals': 'Radically pro-abortion agenda' would
remove conscience protections
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=90240
"... Doctors are forecasting the closure of hospitals and clinics across
America and a mass migration of physicians and their assistances to other
careers should the Obama administration succeed in its attempt to overrule
their rights of conscience. David Stevens, CEO of the Christian Medical
Association today ... 'Many of these professionals and institutions are motivated
and guided by longstanding Hippocratic ethics and biblical principles that
preclude participation in abortion and other controversial procedures. Infringing
on their right to practice medicine according to these life-affirming ethical
standards will force them to leave the profession and to shut down the hospitals
and clinics' ..."
More Pro-Life Advocates Condemn
Obama Move on Abortion Conscience Clause
http://www.lifenews.com/nb188.html
"... Catholic League president Bill Donohue ... 'This regulation gives health
care workers the right to be free from discriminatory edicts invoked by those
who have no respect for their conscience rights. No one in the health care
field should ever be compelled by law to perform or assist in a procedure
that violates his or her conscience ... Reversing the conscience regulation
is the latest in a series of actions President Obama has taken to weaken
protections for the unborn ... The President's policies not only target the
unborn, but suggest a disturbing insensitivity to pro-life Americans. Everyday,
pro-life healthcare providers deliver critical services to thousands of needy
Americans, and they do so in a manner that respects their deeply held
beliefs.'"
Obama
to Revoke Bush Abortion Rule Protecting Conscience Rights
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022712.html
"... The policy protects health care workers from being forced to perform
and provide controversial services that conflict with their personal, moral
and religious beliefs. Without the policy, doctors, nurses and others could
be forced to participate in abortions or to dispense the abortifacient morning
after pill, even if to do so would violate their core beliefs. ... Father
Euteneuer ... 'Like everyone who believes in human dignity, I am tired of
these cowards in Congress trying to sneak these destructive, anti-life measures
into bills that are supposed to be helping our country emerge from this recession
... And I'm tired of President Obama's "Choice for me, but not for thee"
hypocrisy. His audacity is not of hope, but of the destruction of freedom
and human life.'"
Pro-Life Groups Quick to
Blast Obama's Expected Removal of Bush Abortion Rules
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4868.html
"... Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council said the ... 'For
President Obama to do this would be a huge blow to religious freedom and
First Amendment rights ... No one should be forced to have an abortion, and
no one should be forced to be an abortionist in violation of their religious
or ethical convictions.' ... Care Net president Melinda Delahoyde told
LifeNews.com ... 'Because of our commitment to providing alternatives to
abortion, we rely on the availability of pro-life medical professionals -
nurses, OB-GYNs, nurse practitioners, sonographers, and others ... If the
rights of these individuals are violated, then they will simply leave the
field of practice or not enter it altogether.' ..."
Medical Group Upset President
Obama Will Remove Abortion Conscience Clause
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4867.html
"... 'The Obama administration claims, without offering a shred of statistical
evidence, that the regulation has "created confusion" and will somehow hinder
access to healthcare,' [David Stevens, the head of the Christian Medical
Association] ... 'What can be clearer than not using federal funds to force
healthcare professionals to violate longstanding principles of medical ethics
like the Hippocratic Oath, which guided medicine for over two millennia?'
..."
President Obama Starts
Process of Removing Doctors' Protections on Abortions
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4865.html
"... Existing federal laws already make it so doctors and hospitals are not
required to perform abortions. Because those laws aren't always followed,
the Bush administration added additional protections. ... Obama aides indicated
the administration will draft a new set of rules that will clarify, but also
likely lessen, the protections and enforcement health care workers enjoy
under the Bush rules. ... Obama had been expected to wait to overturn the
conscience rules until after he named a new Secretary of Health but that
process has been held up because his top choice, Tom Daschle, had to withdraw
and his second choice, Kathleen Sebelius, is under fire for her radical
pro-abortion stance supporting late-term abortions."
Bishops'
Pro-Life Official "Gravely Concerned" Over Threat to HHS Conscience Protection
Regulation
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-046.shtml
"... Deirdre McQuade, spokesperson on abortion and related issues at the
U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops ... 'We are gravely concerned over today's
news that the Obama administration may rescind the current federal regulation
protecting the conscience rights of health care providers ... Efforts to
nullify or weaken any conscience protection will undermine our national heritage
of diversity and religious freedom, reduce patients' access to life-affirming
health care, and endanger the national consensus required to enact much-needed
health care reform. The Administration says it will open a new 30-day comment
period so Americans may voice their concerns. We encourage participation
in this process by all committed to the sanctity of human life, the freedom
of conscience, and the ethical integrity of our healing professions ..."
Obama
administration may rescind 'conscience rule'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-conscience-rulefeb27,0,1515759.story
"... The move by the Department of Health and Human Services to throw out
the conscience rule is being made equally quietly as the budget plan is made
public. Officials stressed Thursday that the administration is looking for
input from people across the ideological spectrum before it finalizes the
rollback after the standard 30-day comment period. ..."
Conscience
Rights: From Choice to Coercion, by Susan E. Wills, January 23,
2009
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/publicat/lifeissues/012309.shtml
"... The first recorded claim of conscience rights for medical personnel
is the 4th Century B.C. Hippocratic Oath: 'I will follow that system of regimen
which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of
my patients. ... I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor
suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a
pessary to produce abortion.' The right of conscience is recognized in the
U.S. Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the World Medical
Association's Code of Medical Ethics, and in 47 states, laws protect the
conscience rights of healthcare providers. ..."
Pro-Life Medical Groups
Seek to Protect Bush Abortion Conscience Clause Rule
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4778.html
"... Three pro-life medical associations are seeking to defend the law against
challenges by the state officials, Planned Parenthood, and the National Family
Planning and Reproductive Health Association, represented by the ACLU. Casey
Mattox, an attorney with the Christian Legal Society, told LifeNews.com that
the rules are needed so medical professionals have the security of knowing
they won't be pressured to participate in abortions. 'Medical professionals
should not be forced to perform abortions against their conscience. ... Far
from arguing for "choice," these lawsuits seek to compel health care workers
to perform abortions or face dire consequences.' Matt Bowman, a senior legal
counsel with ADF, also weighed in on the case. 'For over three decades, federal
law has prohibited recipients of federal grants from forcing medical
professionals to participate in abortions ... The arguments in the lawsuits
themselves demonstrate lack of compliance with these laws and the necessity
of the regulation they are challenging.' The Christian Medical Association,
Catholic Medical Association, and American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians
and Gynecologists, represented by the two pro-life law firms, are asking
to be allowed to defend the law. Noting a pattern of grant recipients unaware
of or flouting existing laws protecting medical professionals' rights of
conscience, HHS enacted the new law to require grantees to certify compliance
with them in order to receive funds. The three long-standing statutes protecting
medical staff and centers are the Church Amendment, the Coats-Snowe Amendment,
and the Weldon Amendment. The three pro-life medical groups point out that
denying rights of conscience could harm access to healthcare for all by forcing
medical professionals who refuse to perform abortions to either relocate
from jurisdictions that force them to do so or leave the profession altogether.
..."
Making sure there's still
a choice
http://www.inforumblog.com/?p=2080
"... The right of conscience must be protected if we are not to be a socialist
state. ... But these rights are unacceptable to the 'choice' crowd, who want
their choice made law. ... Nurse and bioethics expert Nancy Valko ... 'as
a recipient of health care for almost 60 years, I am more than nervous about
accessing a health care system solely populated by doctors, pharmacists and
nurses who are comfortable with ending life. We have enough problems as it
is with medical ethics. We deny conscience rights at our own peril.' ...
Unlike the citizens of Nazi Germany, who didn't know the extermination had
already started in the hospitals, we have been warned."
Attorney Generals to Challenge
President Bush's New Abortion Rules for Docs
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4679.html
"... HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said the right of federally funded health
care providers to decline to participate in services to which they object,
such as abortion, should be affirmed by federal law. 'Over the past three
decades, Congress enacted several statutes to safeguard the freedom of health
care providers to practice according to their conscience. The new regulation
will increase awareness of and compliance with these laws ... Doctors and
other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good
professional standing and violating their conscience ... This rule protects
the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with
their conscience. ... While it would strengthen provider conscience rights,
the regulation would in no way restrict health care providers from performing
any legal service or procedure, he said ... Specifically, the rule clarifies
that non-discrimination protections apply to institutional health care providers
as well as to individual employees working for recipients of certain funds
from HHS. ..."
HHS
enacts conscience rule
http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2008/12/hhs_enacts_cons.html
"... A brouhaha erupted in July when someone inside HHS leaked a rule draft
definition of abortion stating life began at conception, 'whether before
of after implantation.' This would have caused birth control pills and the
morning-after pill to possibly be considered abortion drugs, since both can
stop a 5-9 day old embryo from implanting in the uterus. In the final rule
released yesterday, HHS 'declines to add a definition of abortion to the
rule.' Further, the rule states, '[N]othing in this rule alters the obligation
of federal Title X programs to deliver contraceptive services to clients
in need as authorized by law and regulation.' But employees may decline to
dispense. According to the Los Angeles Times: 'The right-to-refuse rule includes
abortion and other aspects of healthcare where moral concerns could arise,
Leavitt's office said, such as birth control, emergency contraception, in
vitro fertilization, stem cell research and assisted suicide.' One more thing.
The new rule clarifies health care workers do not have to discuss abortion
as a crisis pregnancy option if they have a moral problem with abortion.
Liberals and the abortion industry are adamantly opposed to the new HHS rule,
leading me to conclude somebody somewhere is breaking civil rights conscience
laws. Otherwise, what's the prob? ..."
Federal Laws
Protecting Conscience Rights Implemented Through HHS Rule of December 18,
2008
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/Dec08fedconslaws.pdf
This fact sheet includes summaries of the three federal conscience laws that
the HHS rule implements -- laws enacted in 1973, 1996, and 2004.
Planned Parenthood President
Upset Bush Protects Doctors From Forced Abortions
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4674.html
"... The president of Planned Parenthood is upset that the Bush administration
has given final approval to regulations that help doctors and medical centers
pressured to do abortions or refer for them. Cecile Richards appears to admit
in an email to financial backers that she wouldn't hire pro-life staff at
her centers. Richards claimed stopping forced abortions is 'limiting the
rights of patients to receive complete and accurate reproductive health
information when they visit a federally funded health care provider.' 'The
rule is clearly a parting gift from Bush to the anti-choice fringe that supported
him all these years,' she added. Richards claims the rule makes it so
'anti-choice medical staff can withhold information about abortion, birth
control, and sex education from their patients' even though the rule has
nothing to do with birth control and despite the fact that birth control
portions of the proposal were removed in August. Richards is also upset that
facilities that receive federal funding -- including her Planned Parenthood
abortion business -- 'will have to certify that they will not refuse to hire
nurses and other providers who object to abortion.' Though Planned Parenthood
supposedly maintains a 'pro-choice' position on abortion, Richards makes
clear her unwillingness to hire pro-life doctors, nurses and medical staff.
..."
Bishops
Welcome HHS Regulation Protecting Conscience Rights in Health
Care
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2008/08-203.shtml
"... The USCCB thanks Secretary Michael Leavitt for implementing this regulation
... We urge the incoming Congress and Administration to honor this much-needed
implementation of longstanding laws. Respect for conscience rights on abortion
should be a strong point of agreement among those considering themselves
'pro-life' and 'pro-choice.' Yet this regulation is already under attack.
A month before it was even published, pro-abortion senators had introduced
a bill (S. 20) to invalidate it regardless of its content. ..."
Free
for Me, But Not for Thee? by Richard M. Doerflinger, September 19,
2008
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/publicat/lifeissues/091908.shtml
"... The fact that major groups in the abortion debate clearly didn't know
these laws existed is proof that the government needs to highlight them.
A moment's reflection also shows that the regulation has nothing to do with
shutting down health care. If abortion, for example, were the widely accepted
'mainstream' service that pro-abortion groups claim, it stands to reason
that relatively few health professionals will invoke their conscience rights.
On the other hand, if many physicians and nurses believe it would violate
their faith or their professional oath to kill unborn children, one sure
way to undermine access to health care would be to force all these caring
women and men out of medicine. A fact ignored by pro-abortion groups,
incidentally, is that one of the laws implemented here even forbids
discrimination in medical training and staff privileges against those who
are willing to do abortions. Do they want to repeal this protection too,
or only the protection for people who disagree with them? All the 'pro-choice'
groups have shown is their hypocrisy. They favor choice, as long as it is
theirs. They want pluralism, as long as it fits their narrow model. Having
begun by treating those who are younger and weaker than them as non-persons,
they would now treat those who disagree with them as second-class citizens.
It turns out 'pro-abortion' was the right name for them all along. ..."
Bush Admin Officially Releases
Regulations Protecting Doctors on Abortion
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4176.html
"... The new measure is also meant to protect medical facilities that don't
want to have abortions done on the premises. Once in place, pro-life medical
staff can't be fired or deliberately not hired for refusing to be involved
in abortions, and they can't lose professional certification if they don't
do abortions or refer for them. The need for the rule came when the American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists considered requiring doctors to
do abortions or refer women to abortion practitioners. 'This is about protecting
the right of a physician to practice medicine according to his or her moral
compass,' Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said. 'There
is nothing in this rule that would in any way change a patient's right to
a legal procedure. The second comment concerns the accusations pro-abortion
groups made that the proposal would undermine women's access to contraception
or birth control -- even though the measure had nothing to do with those
drugs. 'People should not be forced to say or do things they believe are
morally wrong. In particular, health care providers should not be forced
to provide services ... against their consciences,' Leavitt said. Leavitt
said the measure enforces three existing federal laws that provide conscience
clauses on surgical abortions for medical centers and personnel and allow
an opt out of dispensing the abortion drug mifepristone, or RU 486, and the
morning after pill. Leavitt said the measure is needed because existing laws
are not always followed. "Unfortunately, many in the health care community
either aren't aware of those statutes or don't support them,' he said.
..."
Bishops
Welcome HHS Regulations Protecting Conscience Rights in Health Care, August
21, 2008
http://www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection/resources.shtml
"... This is not just about Catholic health care. Catholics do not stand
alone in opposition to the deliberate destruction of nascent human life.
All health care providers should be free to serve their patients without
violating their most deeply held moral and religious convictions on the value
of life ... Organizations calling themselves 'pro-choice' are actually
pro-coercion in seeking to deny the freedom of doctors and nurses ... Don't
doctors have the right to choose not to participate? ..."
Cardinal
Rigali Letter Urging Congress to Respect Conscience Rights, July 18,
2008
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/rigali-conscience071808.pdf
"... They have opposed conscience clauses, dismissively calling them 'refusal
clauses,' claiming that they protect an irrational 'refusal' by a tiny minority
of religious zealots to comply with this supposedly objective medical standard.
Now they have reversed their stand, claiming that conscientious objection
to these procedures is so pervasive in the health care professions that policies
protecting conscience rights will eliminate access to them. Obviously these
two claims cancel each other out. I would suggest, however, that if a procedure
really elicits widespread ethical disapproval from conscientious health
professionals, and must be imposed on unwilling physicians and nurses by
force of law in order to be available at all, it may not be as 'basic' as
pro-abortion groups imagine. I would add that patients with pro-life convictions,
including women who require a physician's care for themselves and their unborn
children during pregnancy, deserve 'access' to health care professionals
who do not have contempt for their religious and moral convictions or for
the lives of their children. ..."
USCCB
Comments on Proposed HHS Regulations Protecting the Rights of Conscience
of Health Care Professionals and Institutions, September 12,
2008
This is the html version of the file
http://www.usccb.org/ogc/pl-hhs-conscience2.pdf
"... We commend the Secretary for promulgating the proposed regulations.
It is critically important, as the Secretary has recognized, that statutory
rights of conscience be enforced. To ensure broad protection for conscience,
we request that 'abortion' be defined to include any drug, procedure, or
other act that the objector reasonably believes may result in the destruction
of the embryo in utero at any time between conception and natural birth.
Finally, we request the adoption of the technical changes discussed above.
..."
HHS Secretary
Leavitt Praised for Defending Physicians' Conscience Rights, March 19,
2008
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2008/08-038.shtml
"... If the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology relies on the ACOG
opinion when deciding whether to grant board certifications, hospitals could
find themselves illegally discriminating against perfectly qualified physicians
who have been denied certification for ideological reasons. Any HHS Secretary
should be concerned about the possibility of federal health care institutions
placing themselves in conflict with federal law. ... The abortion industry
-- and its allies in medical groups -- have often complained that so few
doctors are willing to perform abortions, but that is no excuse for coercing
pro-life physicians to do their dirty work. The movement that used to call
itself 'pro-choice' is becoming a parody of itself."
Cardinal
Francis George's statement to a meeting of the American Medical Association
(AMA) House of Delegates, against a resolution forcing all hospitals to provide
a full range of "reproductive services" June 12, 2000
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/AMAstatement_6-12-2000.pdf
"... If you drive the churches out of health care by making it impossible
for them to operate in accord with their ethical and religious mission, who
will take care of these people? Will the National Abortion Rights Action
League take care of them? Will Catholics for a Free Choice? You and I know
they will not. Secularizing all healthcare institutions through state coercion
is to transform this country into a totalitarian state. ..."
Abortion
Non-Discrimination
http://www.nrlc.org/federal/ANDA/index.html
National Right to Life's pages regarding abortion non-discrimination.
What "Pro-choice" People Think about the
Conscience Rule
Act Now! Stop
Obama's Contentious Conscience Charade
http://catholicexchange.com/2009/03/16/116705/
Letters to HHS and our legislators are particularly effective when they contain
pro-life responses to the claims of those fighting for rescission of
the conscience rule (such as the claims in this article). See this sample
letter: Letter to
the Department of Health and Human Services 3.
"Abortion
is a Blessing": US Episcopalian Lesbian Minister Appointed to Head Prestigious
Seminary
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/apr/09040205.html
"Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, an openly lesbian minister in the American Episcopal
Church ... In her sermon, titled, "Our Work is Not Done," she wrote that
there should be no restrictions whatever on abortion ... '"There's a world
of difference between those who engage in such civil disobedience, and pay
the price, and doctors and pharmacists who insist that the rest of the world
reorder itself to protect their consciences,' she said. If a doctor or pharmacist
objects to abortion or dispensing contraceptives, she wrote, they should
'choose another field.'
[See Katherine Ragsdale's full text:
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/21537/]
Text of the Health Care Providers' Conscience
Rule
Ensuring That
Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or
Discriminatory Policies or Practices in Violation of Federal
Law
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-30134.htm
Text of the HHS Proposal to Rescind the Conscience
Rule
Rescission
of the Regulation Entitled "Ensuring That Department of Health and Human
Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies or Practices
in Violation of Federal Law"; Proposal
http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-03-10-E9-5067
"... Submit written or electronic comment on the regulatory changes proposed
by this document by April 9, 2009. ..."
Text of S. 96
Abortion
Non-Discrimination Act of 2009, S. 96
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.96:
Text of H.R. 570
Abortion
Non-Discrimination Act of 2009, H.R. 570
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.570:
Track S. 96
At National Right to Life
Abortion
Non-Discrimination Act, Bill # S.96
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/bills/?bill=12425596
See the legislation's full text and summary, along with pro-life scores of
the bill, its sponsors, its cosponsors, and your elected officials.
At Govtrack.gov
S.96 Abortion
Non-Discrimination Act of 2009
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-96
See the legislation's full text, sponsors, and cosponsors; and easily track
the bill's status.
Track H.R. 570
At National Right to Life
Protecting
Patients and Health Care Act of 2009 [Elimination of pro-life "conscience"
regulation], Bill # H.R.570
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/bills/?bill=12547191
See the legislation's full text and summary, along with pro-life scores of
the bill, its sponsors, its cosponsors, and your elected officials.
At Govtrack.gov
H.R.
570 Protecting Patients and Health Care Act of 2009: To make certain regulations
have no force or effect.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-570
See the legislation's full text, sponsors, and cosponsors; and easily track
the bill's status.
Related Pages
Ending Abortion
How You Can Help in Any of
a Number of Ways
Sign the Petition
to Protect Pro-life Doctors
Contact Your Elected
Officials
Sample Letters on Current
Issues
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