When is it too much?

The Bush administration is, once again, trying to undermine women's rights. This time around, he is proposing a new rule from the Department of Human Health and Services that would put restrictions on availability of abortions and even contraceptives. It’s the President’s last chance to put his pro-life foot forward.

The new rule would require that any health care provider that receives federal funding to certify that none of its employees are forced to assist in any way with services that they find objectionable. All employees and volunteers could refuse to aid in any treatment that they object to. The rule does address abortion but bodes not have any definition for the word. With no definition, some providers might see sterilization and birth control as the same as abortion. It also allo9ws provider to refuse to participate in “other medical procedures” that they feel contradict religious or moral beliefs.

The new rule would cost over 44 million dollars to implement and would affect almost 600,000 hospitals, clinics, and other health care providers. Female patients would be affected drastically with this new rule. It would lead to women no longer receiving unbiased medical information from their doctors. They would be deprived of advice about options available and even deny them access to certain care.

With the rule allowing providers to refuse “other medical procedures” physicians could object to help patients based on their sexual orientation. It would allow some patients to be denied testing for sexual diseases, merely because the lab technician doesn’t believe in pre-marital sex. Pharmacists could refuse to fill medications because it is birth control, receptionists could refuse to book H.I.V testing, and doctors could deny abortions to a rape victim. Is this really something that we want in America?

If a person truly disapproves of these procedures, they can find employment with a provider that does not deal with these issues. It is understandable that the government would like to protect the conscious of doctors, but what about the rights of the patient? This rule simply allows too much to fall under the umbrella category of “other medical procedures”.