Making it easier to refuse emergency contraception even for rape victims

A Times editorial on the damage that the current administration can do before we see a new one in the White House.

Existing law allows doctors and nurses to refuse to participate in an abortion. Michael Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, is expected to issue new regulations after these elections that would extend the so-called right to refuse to a wide range of health care workers and activities including abortion referrals, unbiased counseling and provision of birth control pills or emergency contraception, even for rape victims.

OK, let’s repeat the last part: As a result of the changes to be instituted in a couple of days, a whole range of health care workers (those of whom that make healthcare decisions solely on their religious/moral beliefs) will have the legal right to refuse emergency contraception even for rape victims. Simplistic had highlighted the issue when it had first surfaced in Sept.

Selection from the art of Octavio Ocampo.

Meanwhile, the ‘no-contraceptive’ agenda continues…

Report on a new ‘conscience clause’ recently added by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that can legally help your pharmacy clerk from not filling out the pill, intra uterine devices or emergency contraception prescriptions just because of the clerk’s religious beliefs. The interesting aspect is that now health care agencies, physicians and clinics can legally refuse to offer even referrals citing personal, moral or religious beliefs.

The administration has proposed a new set of regulations that it says will protect doctors, nurses and health care workers who object to abortion from having to participate in providing care they find objectionable.

If workers or organizations declare that the pill, intrauterine device (IUD) or emergency contraception are contrary to their beliefs, they can deliberately withhold both services and information from patients.

Easy access to contraception helps prevent an estimated 1.3 million unplanned pregnancies and 630,000 abortions each year. The rule would directly affect the 37.3 million Americans living in poverty who can’t afford the cost of contraception, especially those who live in small communities where federally funded hospitals or clinics could refuse to support comprehensive family planning.