Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has issued a new rule that “protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience.” The new rule allows any health-related individual or institution, ranging from doctors to insurance companies, to deny patients information about and services for any procedure they find morally repugnant. The existing law allows care providers to decline to perform controversial services like abortion, but requires them to refer patients to another provider. The American Medical Association (AMA) describes this as an expansion so broad in scope that receptionists could even refuse to schedule patients for controversial procedures. As the President of Planned Parenthood, Cecil Richards, points out: hospitals will now have the option of not informing rape victims about emergency contraceptive pills. The House and Senate have 75 legislative days to muster a majority to strike down the new law.

 

Bush’s Last-Minute “Conscience” Rules Cause Furor (by Julie Rovner, NPR)

Controversy Over New “Conscience” Rule: Bush Broadens Rule on Refusal of Health Services for Moral Reasons (by Daniel DeNoon, WebMD Health News)

Mike Leavitt (AllGov)

Department of Health and Human Services (AllGov)