Tomorrow marks the end of the 30-day comment period on Obama’s proposed scrapping of Bush’s so-called “conscience rule.” Bush snuck the conscience rule in at the end of his godforsaken presidency to allow all healthcare providers to deny services (or “abortions”) to patients (or “women) based on their moral beliefs (or “misogyny”). Obama swiftly moved to resciend the rule; Shakesville has the deets on how to speak up as to  why it should stay that way:

Go to the ACLU Action Center here, or visit Planned Parenthood’s action page here, or Compassion & Choices’ action page here, all of whom have made it incredibly easy to make your voice heard by the Obama administration.

If all goes according to plan, the conscience rule will have accomplished nothing at all. Mwa ha ha.

Not Set in Stone: Bush’s rule never saw the light.

For a short period this year, healthcare providers across the country were free to follow their consciences. President Bush’s final act in office was something known as the “conscience rule,” a provision meant to protect workers in federally funded facilities from providing services they found morally objectionable. The rule went into effect on Jan. 20, the day its ultimate destroyer took over. The Obama administration allowed consciences a one-month leash before announcing its intention to reverse the rule in early April, following a 30-day comment period.

Read More “Decline and Fall: The Fallout of the “Conscience Rule”” »

Health and Human Services published President Obama’s official proposal to rescind Bush’s “conscience rule” in the Federal Register today. Bush’s rule expanded protections for healthcare providers who are morally opposed to performing or aiding in certain procedures—abortions, sterilizations, birth-control prescriptions, treating gays and lesbians, etc.

For the next 30 days, the public is invited to comment on Obama’s proposed rescission of the rule. Love it? Hate it? Tell the Obama administration through one of four easy ways (no faxes, n00bs). Once Health and Human Services opens comments for review, I’ll post the highlights here on the blog. And stay tuned for this week’s City Paper, where I’ll have more on the short-lived regulation.

For now, get to commentin’! Instructions are after the jump:

Read More “Comment on Obama’s Reversal of the “Conscience Rule”” »

And yet, those who provide them never get any love.

Today is National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers.

Yes, but how? Five ways to appreciate, after the jump:

Read More “National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers” »

Two Illinois pharmacists who refuse to provide emergency contraception will defend their right of denial in Illinois Supreme Court. The pharmacists, Luke Vander Bleek and Glen Kosirog, see themselves as conscientious objectors to some guy called Governor Rod Blagojevich’s 2005 executive order requiring pharmacists to dispense contraception.

Their reasoning? “Deeply held religious convictions” coupled with the belief “that the drug can act as an abortion-causing agent.”

I’m interested to see how this pans out, especially in light of Bush’s “conscience” rule, which was finalized yesterday. Illinois’ ACLU reproductive rights project director Lorie Chaiten characterizes the conflict as between “the right to free exercise of religion and the right to access reproductive health care.”

Well, if Vander Bleek and Kosirog lose, they can always open up a pharmacy in Washington, D.C.