National Institute Submits Comments on HHS Regulation
Today was the final day for the public to weigh in on the Health and Human Services (HHS) “Provider Conscience Regulation.” As we’ve mentioned before, this rule, one of the “midnight regulations” that President Bush pushed through before leaving office, severely undermines women’s access to reproductive health services by allowing doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care workers to refuse to perform or assist in abortions, sterilizations, and other contraceptive procedures on moral or religious grounds.
Thankfully, President Obama moved quickly to consider rescinding the regulation by opening a period of public comment to determine the effect of the new law on access to health care services. On April 7th, 2009 the National Institute submitted comments, outlining some of the barriers that the regulation has created and urging for its full repeal. We noted that the regulation:
- creates confusion between the definition of “abortion” and “contraception,” allowing health care providers to deny women access to many forms of commonly used birth control
- dangerously expands health care providers’ refusal rights to include the provision of information on topics and treatments that providers find objectionable for religious or moral reasons
- directly conflicts with the requirements of the Title X program, which guarantees that the approximately 5 million low-income women who access reproductive health care services through this important safety-net program will receive non-directive counseling regarding all of their options related to their pregnancy
- jeopardizes access to health care services for the millions of women who depend on publicly-supported health services; without federally funded health care programs, most of these women would not have anywhere else to turn for and often lack the luxury of being able to shop around for alternate health care facilities
- needlessly reiterates the same opt-out provisions for providers that already exist in other laws
(View the National Institute’s full comments here.)
This regulation is utterly unnecessary, undermines women’s access to critical health care services and information, and leaves low-income women particularly vulnerable. As National Institute President Kelli Conlin wrote in conclusion:
The Rescission Proposal must be enacted to protect patients’ access to information and health care services, eliminate the confusion created by the HHS Regulation, and ensure access to health care for low-income women and other vulnerable populations. With approximately 46 million Americans uninsured, the Department should prioritize the expansion and protection of health care access for women, their families, and all Americans. We fully support the Rescission Proposal because we believe it will bring us one step closer toward that goal.
Hopefully, President Obama and HSS will hear the loud and urgent calls for repeal from reproductive health advocates across the country and this regulation will soon be a thing of the past.
By Maya Dusenbery