September 24, 2008

PORTLAND – Tomorrow, the Bush Administration will hear from more than 1,000 Mainers who are concerned that proposed Health and Human Services regulations will harm patient health.  The regulations, proposed in August, could allow health care workers to deny services based on their religious or moral objections.  Activists are concerned, though, that the regulations transform doctors and pharmacists into judges, condemning the character and behavior of the patients and customers they have sworn to serve.

"Current law already balances health care workers' religious freedom and patients' rights to a full range of medical information and services," said Shenna Bellows, Executive Director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union. "The Bush Administration's new proposal would tip the scales against the patient and risk the health care of many Americans."

Carefully crafted federal laws already protect the religious objections of individual health care providers and balance those concerns against the right of the patient to receive services. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act allows individual workers to refuse to engage in work that is contrary to their religious beliefs, as long as the employer's ability to provide services is not compromised.  The proposed regulations could eliminate those safeguards.

The new federal regulations appear to conflict with Maine law that requires pharmacies to fill all prescriptions including birth control.  In the case of pharmacies, individual pharmacists have been able to refuse to fill a prescription as long as someone else in the pharmacy can meet the patient's needs.  Similarly, because of legal protections already in place, individual clinic workers have always been able to refuse to perform abortions, but this rule could mean they would not be required to inform women of their full range of treatment options, and provide appropriate referrals.

"Shame on the Bush Administration for using its lame duck hours to mount such an attack on women's health care," said Bellows.

The impact could go far beyond even the Bush Administration's primary goal of limiting access to contraception and abortion. The proposed rules could also allow individuals and institutions to refuse to provide services on the basis of religious or moral objections in such areas as end of life care and HIV treatment, potentially affecting many Americans.

"Medical professionals shouldn't be allowed to refuse to treat gays and lesbians or refuse to counsel patients with terminal illness about hospice care," said Bellows.  "The new proposed rules go too far."

The MCLU has worked with several other organizations in the Maine Choice Coalition, including Family Planning of Maine, Planned Parenthood, and the Maine Women's Lobby to raise awareness of the impact of the proposed regulations.  Comments can be sent until midnight Thursday, Sept. 25, via e-mail at consciencecomment@hhs.gov or through the MCLU website.

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