Bush Administration’s Midnight Regulations Threaten Women’s Health

Physicians Vow to Work with Congress, President-Elect Obama to Rescind New Rules

New York, NY—The Department of Health and Human Services today released regulations allowing healthcare providers and institutions greater leeway to refuse to provide certain reproductive health services, including abortion and contraception. Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health issued the following statement from board chair Dr. Suzanne T. Poppema:

“In the waning days of his presidency, George W. Bush has once again allowed politics to trump good medicine. By finalizing over-reaching midnight regulations from the Department of Health and Human Services, the government is jeopardizing American women’s health to pander to a few extremists.

“The new HHS regulations could more accurately be called obfuscations. They are so vaguely written that a woman’s healthcare provider could refuse to tell her about birth control—let alone provide it—all under the guise of protecting religious freedom. Furthermore, the rules would apply to hospitals and insurance companies, vastly expanding the opportunities for a woman to be denied necessary medical care.

“Doctors are taught to balance our personal beliefs against our patients’ needs and wishes. Certainly, individual doctors have every right not to provide care that conflicts with their religious beliefs. Laws already exist to protect these rights. But I know that more physicians are prevented from offering reproductive healthcare than are ever pressured to provide services they disagree with. I’ve spoken with numerous doctors who want to provide abortions, but are denied access to operating rooms or cannot find support staff to assist with their work. As a result, some women are forced to continue their pregnancies or travel long distances to another hospital, just to get the medical care they need.

“American women already struggle to get good healthcare. I fear these new HHS regulations will only make their struggles insurmountable. Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health urges the 111th Congress and President-elect Obama to act swiftly and rescind these biased and unnecessary regulations.”

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