Bush Makes 'Politically Motivated Effort' With Proposed HHS Conscience Rule, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Sexual Health / STDs;  Public Health
Article Date: 25 Nov 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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In issuing the proposed HHS conscience rule, President Bush wants to "change the rules so anyone employed anywhere that gets federal funding could refuse to conduct a health-related service, sale, referral or research that he or she considers in conflict with personal moral or religious beliefs," Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu writes. Bush's attempt to implement the rule "has all the markings of a politically motivated effort rather than one based on preventing discrimination, which is how it's presented," she writes, adding, "Is it discrimination to fire someone for not doing the job he or she was hired to do?"

The rule -- which is "[s]taggering in its scope" -- is opposed by 13 states, many members of Congress, and associations representing hospitals, drug stores and physicians, Basu writes. She adds that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission "wasn't even consulted on it" and that state officials "have said the rule could interfere with state laws that require insurance plans to cover contraceptives and require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape" survivors. In addition, President-elect Barack Obama has said that he opposes the rule and will reverse it when he takes office, "but that could take three to six months," Basu writes. She also notes that Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have introduced a bill that would prevent the rule from going into effect.

"Knowing [the rule] will be overturned, it's an empty show for Bush to force this through," Basu writes. She concludes that with Bush's "leadership repudiated, his White House days waning, he should exit gracefully and shelve this unwarranted intrusion into the lives and choices of private citizens" (Basu, Des Moines Register, 11/21).

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