Pro-life/Pro-War folks are at it again...

[and-justice-for-all]

(email I received from the Center for Inquiry Office of Public Policy)

In July you responded in full force to a Get Active Alert about a proposed regulation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that would permit health providers to refuse to provide health care based on religious or moral objection even though they are receiving federal funds. This is a clear violation of the separation of church and state, as well as a threat to anyone—woman or man—seeking reproductive health care. Thank you so much for speaking out.

Now, that proposed regulation has become a draft that will become law unless you let it be known you think it is wrong for anyone to foist their religious beliefs on others. Please comment on this draft regulation by going to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt's blog and clicking on the link within his entry labeled "comments in the Federal Register." Send an email with your comments expressing your opposition to this regulation, which threatens reproductive health care both in the U.S. and internationally.

Tell Secretary Leavitt that you will not tolerate ideological interference with the delivery of reproductive health services!
The public comment period closes September 25, so please write today.

The regulation purports to extend statutes that have been in place since the 1970s: the Church Amendments (42 U.S.C. § 300a-7), Public Health Service (PHS) Act §245 (42 U.S.C. § 238n), and the Weldon Amendment (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-161, § 508(d), 121 Stat. 1844, 2209). It extends them by requiring written assurances from recipients of federal funds that they will not discriminate against either individuals or institutions that refuse services on grounds of religious or ideological belief.

The major difference from the July proposed regulation is that this draft does not include a definition of abortion. The regulation simply talks about "abortion and sterilization." But this is much worse, because it means that the provider can call abortion pretty much anything s/he wants, including all forms of contraception.

Here's a possibility: a woman—one of the 17 million who rely on publicly funded health care providers for family planning—could go to a clinic and be refused emergency contraception because the receptionist believes, wrongly, that it causes an early abortion. The provider doesn't have to give the woman a referral to another provider, and consequently, the woman's right to control her reproductive process—her own body—has been obstructed by the receptionist's religious views.

In addition, because the regulation requires written assurances, it affects record-keeping in more than 590,000 medical offices and institutions throughout the U.S, to the tune of an estimated $44.5 million annually—money that would be better spent on the care of the women coming to clinics for help. The regulation would also cause chaos in the delivery of services, because anyone, from a secretary through the person who cleans instruments after surgical procedures, could refuse to work at any time on the grounds that any association with abortion, no matter how remote, goes against their conscience.

The Center for Inquiry/Office of Public Policy is submitting comments, but anyone who wishes can also send them. As citizens, we must let our voices be heard against this assault on public health services. This regulation MUST BE STOPPED.

Keep politics out of reproductive health care!

[Iris]

1. k&r

[kayell]

2. k&r

:kick:

[Luna_C_06]

3. It has taken every fiber in my being to keep from hating

these people. They've basically brain washed my little sister, who now has a t-shirt that says, I shit you not, "abortion is mean". How someone can own a vagina and that shirt at the same time is beyond me.

[and-justice-for-all]

4. What age is your sister?

Perhaps you should sit her down and explain to her just what the pro-lifers really mean.

To disallow women to make a rather difficult decision in regards to their life/body, which is to only open doors to other laws and other restrictions upon women because the people helping to pass restrictions upon women, are sexist and think of women as second class citizens who are seen by prolifers, as unable to make think for themselves.

Basically, according to these pro-lifers, women are stupid and should not be allowed to think for themselves.

There are lots of reasons why some one would choose to abort, but myself not being involved in any of them, I have now way of understanding the woman's reason for choosing to do so, nor is any pro-lifer involved in any of those situations. Since, I have no way of understanding that situation, I have no right whats-so-ever, to decide that abortion should not be an option for her to use if need be.

Pro-lifers will attempt to find any excuse to be invasion into other peoples lives, this also goes for the Gay community too.

Pro-lifers need to take their religious ideology and shove it up their ass.

[Luna_C_06]

5. She's just 13.

God, we are so different. At her age I was discovering feminism and politics. She only seems to care about trying to fit into a group that will never accept her because we're not rich. One boy even told her, to her face, that he didn't know that his church was open to people like her. Thank God she's a smart ass, because her response was "well they let you in".

I don't know, maybe we're not too different because when I was her age I did try to find a nice church to join, but after some woman called me a whore (I guess her bf kept looking at me, but this was during the baby Jesus Christmas prayer!) under her breath I had finally had enough and abandoned organized religion.

But I will try to talk to her. Anyone know of any websites that can explain to a 13 year old girl why this is such a big deal? No offense to my sis, but she's kind of clueless sometimes, so it would have to be pretty basic.

[and-justice-for-all]

6. It is all about approach and delievery of the message....

Organized religion is sexist and their general bases is "Women should be seen and not heard." Save that poor child from further brain washing.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Of course she is clueless. She is 13. Just keep on keeping her informed and

hopefully she'll turn out all right as an adult. (I got sucked into fundyism for a while myself, but I figured out it wasn't for me and decided to think for myself instead.)

[Thothmes]

8. I don't suppose the next congress

will do anything about this?