Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
Editorial
An anti-abortion ploy
Disguised as an employment-discrimination imitative, the Bush administration's proposed funding rule would limit women's reproductive health rights.
The Bush administration has done a poor job of cloaking its latest end run around women's reproductive rights.
A Department of Health and Human Services proposed rule would require health-care providers and other recipients of aid from federal health programs to certify they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and some birth control. No certification; no aid.
Administration officials say the rule change is about employment discrimination. No, it clearly is a ploy to limit women's access to reproductive health care. The administration knows attaching strings to funding would have disastrous consequences on access to abortion and contraceptives by women.
The proposed change is worded so broadly the restrictions would extend to oral contraceptives and emergency contraception. Programs such as Medicaid and Title X, which provide family-planning services, could be jeopardized.
Fortunately, Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Hillary Clinton, D-NY, are on the case.
"One of the most troubling aspects of the proposed rules is the overly broad definition of abortion," the senators wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. "This definition would allow health-care corporations or individuals to classify many common forms of contraception — including the birth-control pill, emergency contraception and IUDs — and therefore to refuse to provide contraception to women who need it."
The senators note such a rule change could even deny access to emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault in hospital emergency rooms.
In its waning days, President Bush should take a break from weakening women's reproductive-health rights.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
NEW - 05:26 PM
The Times recommends ...: Reject I-1029, a proposal to train and license long-term-care workers
NEW - 05:27 PM
The Times recommends ...: Approve Charter Amendment 9: Make King County less partisan
The Times recommends ...: Approve Pike Place Market upgrade; reject Seattle Parks levy

This feature requires Flash 7.
Top video | World | Science / Tech | Entertainment
Best Northwest Employers
Vote for your favorite Northwest employers in the 2008 NWjobs People's Picks contest. Vote now.
- Kennewick reservist faces threats over landscaping
- Revisiting McCain's Keating 5 history | Close-up
- Boeing CEO in no hurry to settle strike
- The measure of Palin's inexperience: She's not ready for her close-up
- Face the grim reality of the 2008 Seahawks | Steve Kelley
- UW's use of freshmen has some fans seeing red
- Dow closes below 10,000 amid global sell-off
- Boeing exec warns about state becoming known as a "strike zone"
- Positions harden in Boeing strike; McNerney, unions spar over outsourcing
- Countrywide suit settled; homeowners to get aid
- Revisiting McCain's Keating 5 history | Close-up
- Graduates drowning in debt from high cost of college
- Countrywide suit settled; homeowners to get aid
- King County home prices slide again, but more people are buying
- With no way out of trouble, more students likely to default
- Boeing CEO in no hurry to settle strike
- Oregon Labrador headed to DockDogs National Championships
- Positions harden in Boeing strike; McNerney, unions spar over outsourcing
- Seattle's first parish centered on traditional Latin Mass
- Drug companies: No cold medicines for kids under 4
