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August
26, 2008
Protect a Women’s Right to Reproductive Choice!
Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released proposed
regulations that could seriously undermine women’s access to reproductive
health services, including birth control and abortion. Specifically, the
regulations would allow doctors, nurses and other health care
personnel—including administrative staff like receptionists—to deny women
access to birth control, based on their own personal beliefs that birth control
is immoral. The rules would also permit individuals to refuse to provide
information and counseling about basic health care services if doing so would
violate his or her religious beliefs.
The regulations are dangerous. For years, federal law has carefully balanced
protections for individual religious liberty and patients’ access to
reproductive health care. This vague and unnecessary expansion would foster
confusion and severely curtail the rights of women to make their own informed
health care decisions.
Hadassah is a strong advocate of a women’s freedom of choice and opposes any
attempts to restrict, through state administrative regulations, legislation, or
court action, the right to reproductive choice and/or use of family planning
programs delivering any and all services. We must take a stand against this
newest attack on women’s rights and protect reproductive choice.
To read the proposed regulations. click here.
Action Needed: Send your comments to the
Department of Health and Human Services opposing this regulation. Comments may
be submitted electronically until September 25, 2008
Click on the link below. Fill in your name and organization and include the following message in the “General Comment” box:
“I strongly oppose and urge you to abandon the Provider Conscience Regulation. As written, the proposed regulations could allow institutions and individuals to refuse to provide needed care based on religious beliefs. These rules could significantly undermine the ability of American women to access contraceptive services and deprive them of the right to make their own informed health care decisions.”
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=09000064806da3bc
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