HHS Reviewing Comments On Provider 'Conscience' Rule, Including EEOC Criticism

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 02 Oct 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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HHS recently announced that it is reviewing the "higher than usual number of comments" made during the 30-day public comment period on a draft regulation that would allow health care providers who receive federal grants to opt out of care they object to based on moral or religious grounds, BNA Health Care Daily reports.

Among the comments received by HHS was a letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission calling on HHS to "revoke" the proposal or "at a minimum" specify that the proposal would not change current jurisprudence on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which ensures an employee's right to the accommodation of religious practices. "For over 40 years, federal courts have been interpreting Title VII's prohibition on religious discrimination, resulting in a robust body of jurisprudence centered on the balance between employees' rights to religious freedom and employers' business needs, consistent with the mandates of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution," EEOC's letter says, adding that HHS' proposal "could throw this entire body of law into question."

The letter, signed by EEOC commissioners Stuart Ishimaru and Christine Griffin, says that the regulations could violate the Establishment Clause by giving preference to particular religious beliefs, and it could nullify businesses' ability to show an "undue burden" on its needs. "The lack of clarity on the interplay between the regulations and the Title VII religious analysis will result in profound confusion and extensive litigation and will be especially burdensome to small businesses," the letter says (BNA Health Care Daily, 10/1).

If the regulation becomes law, it would cost more than $44 million annually to enforce and would require 584,294 federally funded medical entities and their staff to certify compliance or face disciplinary and/or punitive penalties. The public comment period on the proposal ended Sept. 25 (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/25).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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