Massachusetts Attorney General Urges Congress To Support The Protecting Patients And Healthcare Act

Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Regulatory Affairs / Drug Approvals;  Public Health
Article Date: 26 Nov 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Today, Attorney General Martha Coakley submitted a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, urging it to report favorably on the Protecting Patients and Healthcare Act, which was introduced by Senators Hillary Clinton and Patty Murray last week. In her letter, the Attorney General expressed her continued opposition to the U.S. Department Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed so-called "provider conscience" regulations. This new bill would prevent the Secretary of Health and Human Services from taking action to implement or enforce the regulations.

The proposed HHS regulations purports to clarify existing federal laws that protect an individual's right to refuse to provide reproductive health care services if those services violate that individual's religious beliefs or moral convictions. However, rather than provide clarity, the proposed regulations dramatically expand the scope of these statutes and potentially undermine state laws that protect women's ability to access to reproductive health care and threaten access to basic health information and services, including birth control.

"The Protecting Patients and Healthcare Act is critical to protecting patients' access to basic reproductive healthcare services and information and our office hopes that the Committee will report the bill to the entire Senate for passage," said Attorney General Coakley. "We are deeply concerned that if this regulation is put on the books, some health care workers will deny patients the information they need to obtain appropriate medical care. Our ability to enforce state laws and policies, which ensure contraceptive equity in insurance, access to emergency contraception for sexual assault victims and access to birth control at pharmacies, may also be challenged."

On August 21, 2008, HHS submitted the new regulation for public comment, which according to the agency, is intended to increase awareness of, and compliance with, provider conscience statutes. The proposed regulation expands the scope of protection to institutional health care providers as well as to individual employees; requires recipients of certain HHS funds to certify their compliance with provider conscience laws; and permits the HHS Office for Civil Rights to promote compliance by taking legal action against non-compliant state or local government, including by terminating HHS funding.

In a letter to HHS dated September 19, 2008, Attorney General Coakley stated that she strongly opposed the proposed regulation because its vague and expansive definition of health care services, "makes the distribution of medical services and medical information subject to individual provider interpretations" and could be used to attempt to deny such services as abortion, fertility treatments and treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.

A copy of the Attorney General's letter to the committee is available on the Attorney General's website: http://www.mass.gov/ago.

Massachusetts Attorney General