From the Wall Street Journal....
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Bush-Era Abortion Rules Face Possible Reversal********************************************
By Laura Meckler
WASHINGTON -- The outgoing Bush administration this week will finalize a regulation establishing a "right of conscience" allowing medical staff to refuse to participate in any practice they object to on moral grounds, including abortion but possibly birth control and other health care as well.
In transition offices across town, officials in the incoming Obama administration have begun considering how and when to undo it.
The regulation is one of a swath of abortion and other reproductive-health issues under review by the Obama team, which is preparing to reverse a variety of Bush measures, according to officials close to the transition. The review is part of a sweeping scrutiny of Bush-era legislation and regulation on issues across the federal government, from environmental and labor rules to defense spending.
...."We have a lot of work to do to fix the damage the Bush administration has done," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
As one of his first actions, Mr. Obama is likely to issue an executive order lifting President George W. Bush's restrictions on funding for research using embryonic stem cells, a move with bipartisan support.
Women's health advocates also expect early action on the "global gag rule," which bars foreign organizations from using their own money for abortion services or advocacy if they accept U.S. aid for family planning. This policy was instituted by President Ronald Reagan, immediately overturned by President Bill Clinton and then reinstated by Mr. Bush....
...the "right of conscience" regulation...is expected to be published this week. It will take effect 30 days after being issued. That means that if the Bush administration issues the regulation this week, it will become final before Mr. Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, and his administration won't be able to undo it easily.
...Advocates on both sides of the issue have interpreted the ["right of conscience" ] rule as also protecting workers who refuse to participate in providing birth control or other care they don't support.
WHAT? Do the conservatives realize that birth control was legalized over 40 years ago, and that women who are prescribed birth control by their doctors should legally be able to walk into any pharmacy and obtain it? I can't wait to see the lawsuits fly the first time some idiot pharmacist decides he's not going to dispense "the pill" to a liberal woman....
The American Medical Association is AGAINST this crazy "right of conscience" crap....
CURRENT AMA POLICY [click here to read entire policy statement]Other groups who oppose the "right of conscience" rule:
AMA Policy H-120.947 (AMA Policy Database), “Preserving Patients’ Ability to Have Legally Valid Prescriptions Filled,” is most relevant. This policy states:
Our AMA reaffirms our policies supporting responsibility to the patient as paramount in all situations and the principle of access to medical care for all people; and supports legislation that requires individual pharmacists or pharmacy chains to fill legally valid prescriptions or to provide immediate referral to an appropriate alternative dispensing pharmacy without interference. In the event that an individual pharmacist or pharmacy chain refers a patient to an alternative dispensing source, the individual pharmacist or the pharmacy chain should return the prescription to the patient and notify the prescribing physician of the referral. (Sub. Res. 6, A-05; Appended: BOT Rep. 18, I-06)
American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology*******************************************
American Hospital Association
I just spent 10 minutes reading things all over the internet about all the various rational people/groups/experts who are against this crazy rule. Does a person who needs hormone therapy for cancer get denied their prescription? Can a young pregnant woman with a life-threatening pulmonary embolism be denied a first-trimester pregnancy termination (hint: this actually happened, in Nebraska).
Thank goodness we have a respectable, caring President-Elect--Mr. Obama--who will be taking office soon. When that happens, we won't have to put up with this kind of nonsense much longer.
