Bush panders to anti-contraception crowd.

[SirNitram]

Link

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.

Under the draft of a proposed rule, hospitals, clinics, researchers and medical schools would have to sign “written certifications” as a prerequisite to getting money under any program run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Such certification would also be required of state and local governments, forbidden to discriminate, in areas like grant-making, against hospitals and other institutions that have policies against providing abortion.

The proposal, which circulated in the department on Monday, says the new requirement is needed to ensure that federal money does not “support morally coercive or discriminatory practices or policies in violation of federal law.” The administration said Congress had passed a number of laws to ensure that doctors, hospitals and health plans would not be forced to perform abortions.

In the proposal, obtained by The New York Times, the administration says it could cut off federal aid to individuals or entities that discriminate against people who object to abortion on the basis of “religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

The proposal defines abortion as follows: “any of the various procedures — including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation.”

Mary Jane Gallagher, president of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which represents providers, said, “The proposed definition of abortion is so broad that it would cover many types of birth control, including oral contraceptives and emergency contraception.”

“We worry that under the proposal, contraceptive services would become less available to low-income and uninsured women,” Ms. Gallagher said.

Indeed, among other things the proposal expresses concern about state laws that require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims who request it.

Nancy Keenan, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, said, “Why on earth is the Bush administration trying to discourage doctors and clinics from providing contraception to women who need it?”

Christina Pearson, a spokeswoman for the department, declined to discuss the draft. “We don’t normally comment on whether we are considering changes in regulations,” she said.

It's not about 'saving babies'. It's about controlling women, those sluts.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Link

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.

Under the draft of a proposed rule, hospitals, clinics, researchers and medical schools would have to sign “written certifications” as a prerequisite to getting money under any program run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Such certification would also be required of state and local governments, forbidden to discriminate, in areas like grant-making, against hospitals and other institutions that have policies against providing abortion.

The proposal, which circulated in the department on Monday, says the new requirement is needed to ensure that federal money does not “support morally coercive or discriminatory practices or policies in violation of federal law.” The administration said Congress had passed a number of laws to ensure that doctors, hospitals and health plans would not be forced to perform abortions.

In the proposal, obtained by The New York Times, the administration says it could cut off federal aid to individuals or entities that discriminate against people who object to abortion on the basis of “religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

The proposal defines abortion as follows: “any of the various procedures — including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation.”

Mary Jane Gallagher, president of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which represents providers, said, “The proposed definition of abortion is so broad that it would cover many types of birth control, including oral contraceptives and emergency contraception.”

“We worry that under the proposal, contraceptive services would become less available to low-income and uninsured women,” Ms. Gallagher said.

Indeed, among other things the proposal expresses concern about state laws that require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims who request it.

Nancy Keenan, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, said, “Why on earth is the Bush administration trying to discourage doctors and clinics from providing contraception to women who need it?”

Christina Pearson, a spokeswoman for the department, declined to discuss the draft. “We don’t normally comment on whether we are considering changes in regulations,” she said.

It's not about 'saving babies'. It's about controlling women, those sluts.

As everyone knows, Republicans hate women because they believe that the only true people are men. This is why they also have sex with other men--the only true relationship possible is between two men. But since all Republicans are closeted ass-pounders, they assume every man on the planet is. By extension, if gay marriage was legalized and gay sex decriminalized, all men would marry other men and the human race would die out. Thus these laws are required to preserve the proper order of things, which is women being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen while their husbands have anonymous sex in airport bathrooms.

[Illuminatus Primus]

You don't get to take your beliefs and superstitions with you into a workplace; especially one like medicine. That's about providing factual, scientific answers that are for the benefit of the patient, it isn't about you. Should Jehovah's Witnesses be allowed to be doctors and to deny blood transfusions, because otherwise their beliefs "aren't being respected"?

[Darth Wong]

Unfortunately, the prevailing political wind in America says that when you make a nurse or doctor do his job against his religious convictions, then you are violating his "religious freedom" and hence the first amendment.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Unfortunately, the prevailing political wind in America says that when you make a nurse or doctor do his job against his religious convictions, then you are violating his "religious freedom" and hence the first amendment.

What about the patient's beliefs? The patient does not have much of a choice regarding what hospital they go to if they are sick or injured. They cant go to a hospital that is ideologically correct. From the standpoint of any biomedical ethicist worth their salt, the job of a doctor is to provide options and advice regarding treatment to the patient, and let the patient make an informed decision. The moral choice is for the patient to make, not the Doctor. Hospitals that have policies against things abortion are violating their ethical obligation to patients.

Moreover, these funding policies are unconstitutional, as they have no secular purpose, have the primary effect of advancing an inherently religious pro-life viewpoint etc.

[Alyrium Denryle]

I should also note that if a doctor objects to performing a procedure, they can always refer a patient to another physician.

[Rye]

Unfortunately, the prevailing political wind in America says that when you make a nurse or doctor do his job against his religious convictions, then you are violating his "religious freedom" and hence the first amendment.

It'll be interesting if this blows up with some Scientologists refusing to stock psych drugs further down the line. Once the non-christian cultists start having their own way, it'll become abundantly clear what a crazy idea it was.