Sen. Clinton Must Fight Bush Administration 'Conscience' Rule Before Leaving Office, Editorial Says

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 23 Dec 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Before Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) leaves office to take a position as President-elect Barack Obama's secretary of state, she "needs to help preserve the abortion rights and access to birth control that the Bush administration is trying to restrict on its way out of power," an Albany Times Union editorial states, adding that "[a]ny help she can get from the rest of the Senate would be invaluable." The editorial says that the Bush administration's issuance of the provider "conscience" rule on Thursday "ostensibly protects health workers from providing care that violates their personal beliefs. Really, though, it's all about making it harder for a women to have an abortion, as well as obtaining birth control and infertility treatment" (Albany Times Union, 12/21). The rule, which will take effect the day before Bush leaves office, allows employees of entities that receive federal grants to refuse to provide medical information and services they object to based on ethical, moral or religious beliefs (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 12/19). The editorial notes that "three separate federal laws, dating back to the 1970s, already provide conscience protections for those who refuse on moral grounds to take part in abortions" and that "[a]bortion-rights groups have never opposed those laws."

By issuing the new rule, the Bush administration "is trying to use the arcana of federal regulations to do what it and all the other opponents of abortion have been unable ... to do for 35 years," according to the editorial. It adds that the requirement that health care entities certify in writing their compliance with the rule "doesn't make abortion illegal, of course ... It just makes it all the harder for a woman to obtain legal medical care." Under the final rule, "[h]ealth care workers who equate any form of birth control with abortion will be able to refuse to dispense such medication," the editorial says.

Clinton and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in November introduced legislation "to stop what the Bush administration was about to do," the editorial says. "They have the support of more than two dozen senators, more than 100 members of the House and more than a dozen state attorneys general," according to the editorial. "It's now up to [Obama] to support that legislation or, when he takes office, impose a new rule-making process regarding abortion and birth control," the editorial states, concluding, "The Bush administration has tampered with enough laws and rights. Blocking access to women's health care, and so disingenuously, should be out of the question" (Albany Times Union, 12/21).

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.

© 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

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