The Bush administration today issued a new rule that allows federal health officials to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, clinic, health plan, doctors’ office or other entity if they do not allow employees to exercise their “right of conscience.” This means employees can refuse to help provide services that they feel violates their personal, moral or religious beliefs, e.g., reproductive services to lesbians or other unmarried women, abortions, or birth control. Autumn Sandeen over at Pam’s also noted when these regs were first proposed that they could also limit the ability of transgender people to get hormone prescriptions.
The Washington Post reports that the new regulations would apply to more than 584,000 health care facilities. As lawyer Nancy Polikoff said in an earlier post, this rule would “[cover] millions of workers who now can impose their ideas of who should be a parent, even in the face of state laws—like those in California—banning discrimination.”
WaPo notes, “Although the Obama administration could reverse the rule, it would require a lengthy process. Last month, however, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced a bill to repeal the regulation legislatively.”
Sounds like we should start writing to our members of Congress even now. (Heck, send ’em one of your holiday cards. One with a photo of your family on it.)
