An anti-abortion ploy

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.