[Vision2020] Obama to Rescind Conscience Rule

g. crabtree jampot at roadrunner.com
Fri Feb 27 17:33:50 PST 2009


Looks as though the right to kill the unborn trumps another's right to 
conduct their business as they, in accordance with their conscience and 
their morals, deem appropriate.

I guess some peoples rights are a little more special than other peoples 
rights.

g
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 6:21 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] Obama to Rescind Conscience Rule


> Courtesy of today's (February 27, 2009) Spokesman Review.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Obama to rescind 'conscience rule'
> Bush policy let medical workers deny drugs, services
>
> The "Conscience Rule"
> http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-30134.htm
>
> WASHINGTON - Taking another step into the abortion debate, President
> Barack Obama's administration today will move to rescind a controversial
> rule that allows health care workers to deny abortion counseling or other
> family planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs,
> according to administration officials.
>
> The rollback of the so-called "conscience rule" comes just two months
> after George W. Bush's administration announced it late last year in one
> of its final policy initiatives.
>
> The new administration's action seems certain to stoke ideological battles
> between supporters and opponents of abortion rights over the
> responsibilities of doctors, nurses and other medical workers to their
> patients.
>
> Seven states, including California, Illinois and Connecticut, as well as
> two family planning groups, have filed lawsuits challenging the Bush rule.
> They argue that it sacrifices the health of patients to religious beliefs
> of medical providers.
>
> The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has reported cases, such
> as that of a Virginia mother of two who became pregnant because she was
> denied emergency contraception. In Texas, according to the group, a rape
> victim found her prescription for emergency contraception rejected by a
> pharmacist.
>
> Supporters of the rule say it protects doctors who should not be forced to
> prescribe treatments like birth control pills or the so-called morning-
> after pill.
>
> Obama - a longtime supporter of abortion rights - has been expected to
> reverse a number of Bush's policies restricting access to family planning
> services.
>
> But the new president also has been very sensitive to the explosiveness of
> the reproductive rights issue.
>
> Last month, Obama quietly overturned a controversial ban on U.S. funding
> for international aid groups that provide abortion services.
>
> The move by his Department of Health and Human Services to throw out the
> conscience rule is being made equally quietly as most lawmakers focus on
> Obama's blockbuster budget plan.
>
> On Thursday officials stressed that the administration is looking for
> input from people across the ideological spectrum before it finalizes the
> roll-back after the standard 30-day comment period.
>
> "We believe that this is a complex issue that requires a thoughtful
> process where all voices can be heard," said one official, who was not
> authorized to speak on the record about the policy change.
>
> The officials said the administration will consider drafting a new rule to
> clarify what health care workers can reasonably refuse to do for their
> patients.
>
> In promulgating the rule last year, Health and Human Services Secretary
> Mike Leavitt said it was necessary to address discrimination in the
> medical field.
>
> But critics complained the language of the rule is overly broad, covering
> any "activity related in any way to providing medicine, health care and
> other service relative to health and welfare."
>
> Obama officials said the administration's goal is to make the rule clearer
> rather than force doctors to provide abortions.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "For a lapsed Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist
> Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go
> to work."
>
> - Roy Zimmerman
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> This message was sent by First Step Internet.
>           http://www.fsr.com/
>
>
>


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