Abortion has always been a controversial issue, with many members of the medical community opting out of performing them because of reasons moral, personal, or religious. Refusing to perform these procedures can lead to professional repercussions that leave many healthcare workers weighing the odds of their careers against their personal beliefs. To safeguard the jobs of these medical professionals, the US Health and Human Services (HHS) announced yesterday its plan to implement new regulations that will protect jobs even when members of the medical community refuse to perform these procedures.

Saying people shouldn’t be required to say or do things they find morally objectionable, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced the protective regulation that is hailed by conservatives and anti-abortion advocates but condemned by abortion rights activists and advocates for women’s health and family planning. After a 30-day period designated for comment, the new regulation will make it impossible to fire, discipline, or penalize in any way healthcare workers who refuse to participate in abortion procedures.

One of the most controversial aspects of the proposal is the ambiguous definition of the term, abortion, which was defined in a draft of the regulation to mean anything that interferes with a fertilized egg after conception. Supporters and critics alike say the definition is broad enough to include oral contraceptives, including the morning-after pill (Plan B emergency contraception), intrauterine devices (IUDs), and various other common means of family planning. Leavitt says the regulation focuses only on the issue of conscience and abortion.

Supporters of the plan, including the Christian Medical and Dental Association, applaud the ambiguity of the regulation, saying it is broad enough to encompass sterilization procedures, cloning, and other procedures and research activities deemed objectionable by some members of the medical community.

Critics say the ambiguous language has the potential to create obstacles that sweep the medical field, including family planning, a large spectrum of scientific research, and end-of-life care. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America has voiced concerns that the regulation will seriously threaten a woman’s right to complete and accurate health care and information and that women’s health will become compromised by ideology and politics.

Under the proposed regulation, as many as 584,000 American hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices, and healthcare plans risk losing federal funding if any medical personnel in their facilities or programs is penalized for refusing to perform procedures relating to abortion or failing to provide alternative sources for the treatments in question.

Leavitt says no aspect of the proposal changes a patient’s right to obtain legal medical procedures nor does it prevent any healthcare facility from providing them. As planned, the cost to implement the proposed regulation will cost US taxpayers more than $44 million.

Source: Washington Post