Obama Scraps Protections for Abortion Objectors

President Barack Obama will rescind a Bush Administration rule that granted protection to doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care workers who refuse to perform or assist in abortions, sterilizations, and other contraceptive procedures on moral grounds. The rule was issued by the Department of Health and Human Services late in Bush's term, and applied to any hospital or clinic receiving federal funds. Obama is set to announce his new choice for Health and Human Services Secretary, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D), next week. An announcement that the Administration is revoking the protection could make her first few days as a Cabinet nominee difficult ones.

Pro-life groups reacted angrily to news of the president's decision. Tom McClusky, Vice-President of the Family Research Council called the decision, "a horrible move." "What [the rules] seek to do is protect patients, nurses, doctors and other health care professionals from being forced to violate their consciences," McClusky said. Abortion supporters, however, took the opposite view. Colorado Representative Diana DeGette (D) called the decision, "a wonderful step," arguing that the Bush Administration's regulation restricted access to health care. "I think it would have had far-reaching and unintended consequences," she said.

The short-lived regulations required hospitals and clinics for the first time to certify that they were in compliance with existing federal laws protecting health care workers' right to refuse to participate in abortions and contraceptive services in order to qualify for federal funding. Opponents of the rules feared that they were too broad in scope and could lead to reduced access to contraception and other family planning services. That fear seems unfounded, given that the rules would simply have required compliance with existing federal law.

This is the second Bush era abortion regulation that the Obama Administration has undone since taking office. Last month, President Obama overturned a Bush Executive Order preventing federal funding from going to groups that counseled abortions overseas. The end result of both decisions will be an increase in abortions both at home and abroad, as well as a more intimidating work environment for health care workers with strong moral objections to abortion.