Under the Bush administration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted a regulation, “Ensuring that Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies or Practices in Violation of Federal Law.” This regulation unnecessarily expanded current laws allowing health care workers to refuse to provide needed services for women across the country.
Prior to adoption of this regulation, the National Institute, along with a number of advocacy organizations, providers, and individuals, submitted comments urging HHS to reject the proposed regulation. The regulation was nonetheless implemented as one of the “midnight regulations” that President Bush pushed through before leaving office.
Thanks to immense public outcry, HHS is currently considering a “Rescission Proposal” that would nullify the “Provider Conscience Regulation.” On April 7, 2009, the National Institute submitted comments to HHS strongly supporting the Rescission Proposal. Our comments outlined some of the barriers that the “Provider Conscience Regulation” has created, including:
- creating confusion between the definition of “abortion” and “contraception,” giving health care providers—including doctors, nurses, insurance plans, hospitals, and almost any other employee in a health care setting—the ability to deny women access to many forms of commonly used birth control;
- dangerously expanding 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 conflicting 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;
- jeopardizing 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;
- and needlessly reiterating the same opt-out provisions that already exist in other laws, with the only result being to decrease health care access for our most vulnerable populations.
In conclusion, National Institute President Kelli Conlin wrote:
“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.”
View a pdf of the National Institute’s comments here.
