Just when you were thinking what else could Bush to ruin America, he gets in one last punch. Remember that "right of conscience" regulation? The one that would allow anyone working in the healthcare profession -- from doctors to nurses to the people that clean the tools to the hospital janitors -- to opt out of providing care to someone based on a moral opposition to a procedure? Well, it went through today.
Let's say your hospital, clinic or doctor receives federal funding, and you go there for an abortion or to be artificially inseminated. If the doctor on duty doesn't believe in abortion or lesbian parenting, he can refuse to do the procedure, and he won't get in trouble for it. If he's somehow forced to perform a procedure that's against his beliefs, the hospital, clinic or doctor's office can have its federal funding yanked right out from under it.
"Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a statement.
The Obama administration will most likely reverse the rule, but it will take a while. The rule is supported by many Catholic groups and our friends at the Family Research Council. Oh, and the rule will cost more than $44 million to implement.
The wording of the rule is so broad that it could allow pharmacies to opt out of selling contraceptives.
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