View Comments      Email Article       Printable Version

Published: June 12, 2009

Obama proposal “would have devastating impact on health care access”

At Sacramento press conference, healthcare professionals plead with president not to revoke conscience protection regulation

Doctors, nurses, other health professionals and some California legislators held a press conference Tuesday, June 9, on the north steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento pleading with President Barack Obama not to rescind conscience protection regulations for healthcare providers who do not want to participate in abortions or other medical procedures they find morally objectionable.

"If the term ‘choice' means anything at all, it must apply equally to those who support abortion and those who conscientiously object to it," said William J. Cox, president of the Alliance of Catholic Health Care, in a statement released the day of the press conference.

The conscience rule, which took effect on Jan. 18, two days before Obama was sworn into office, was issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. The federal regulation protects physicians and other healthcare workers who refuse to assist in abortions and other medical procedures based on religious or moral objections. The Obama Administration announced earlier this year that it is considering eliminating the regulation.

"The conscience protections contained in federal law are a civil right for all hospitals and health care workers," Cox said in an April 1 statement issued by the Sacramento-based Alliance of Catholic Health Care. “The regulation that the Administration seeks to repeal is necessary for preserving those rights and making sure that health care workers can perform their duties without fear or intimidation."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has also strongly encouraged the Obama administration to leave the conscience protections in place. "Individuals and institutions committed to healing should not be required to take the very human life that they are dedicated to protecting," said Deirdre A. McQuade, a spokeswoman for the bishops, when news of plans to revoke the conscience rules began to surface late last year. "The enforcement of federal laws to protect their freedom of conscience is long overdue. Catholic health care providers will especially welcome this mark of respect for the excellent life-affirming care they provide to all in need. But Catholics do not stand alone in opposition to the deliberate destruction of nascent human life. All health care providers should be free to serve their patients without violating their most deeply held moral and religious convictions in support of life.”

"In these times of budgetary crisis here in California, the regulation helps to ensure that our patients will have access to the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals they depend on," said Dr. Darilyn Falck, an emergency medical physician in Sacramento who represented the Christian Medical Association, at Tuesday’s press conference.

"The loss of these faith-based physicians would have a devastating impact on health care access and would disproportionately hurt the poor and medically underserved populations, where often faith-based healthcare is their only option," said Dr. Falck.

The group of doctors, organized under an organization called Freedom2Care, released a letter to President Obama asking him to keep in place the conscience clause. Another letter went to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asking him to publicly support the conscience clause and to join with the doctors and other healthcare professionals in asking the president to not rescind the rule.

"Many of the patients visiting faith-based hospitals, clinics and practices are uninsured or have Medicaid,” said the letter to Schwarzenegger. “Given the current crisis, in which millions of adults and children are losing coverage, California cannot afford to allow the Federal government to rescind the conscience clause. If it is rescinded, a healthcare crisis of greatest proportions would arise," reads the letter to Governor Schwarzenegger.

California lawmakers attending the Tuesday press conference included state Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth and Sen. George Runner, R-Antelope Valley.

“How would a lack of conscience protection affect access to care in California?” asked Freedom2Care in a June 9 press release. “According a recent survey, 95% of faith-based doctors said they would stop practicing medicine if forced to choose between performing an abortion or losing their jobs. A total of 9,381,606 patients in California are cared for by 69 faith-based hospitals each year. Current projections also indicate a 200,000 physician shortage by 2025.

California has 53 representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives – 34 Democrats and 19 Republicans – giving the state considerable clout in Congress and making California’s delegation crucial in the fight to protect conscience rights for healthcare providers. Supporters of the Department of Health and Human Services regulations are urging Californians to contact their representatives in Congress and tell them to ensure that conscience rights remain protected by law.

In its April statement, the Alliance of Catholic Health Care noted that the Department of Health and Human Services adopted the conscience regulations because existing laws “that would otherwise prevent discrimination against hospitals and health care workers were being ignored or overlooked. As a result, pressure has repeatedly been brought to bear through state legislation, licensing or certification authorities and professional boards to coerce individual and institutional health care providers into violating their consciences by forcing them, under penalty of law, to conduct, refer for or receive training in the performance of abortions.”

In California, said the Alliance, such pressure has been substantial. For example, said the Alliance, “In April 2000, attempts were made to use the California Medical Assistance Commission to force Catholic hospitals to provide abortion and other reproductive services as a condition of receiving a Medi-Cal contract. In 1999, a bill failed on the floor of the state Assembly (AB 525) that would have required Catholic hospitals to provide or arrange for abortions or lose tens of millions of dollars in annual state assistance and impose restrictions on mergers between non-profit health care institutions if access to abortion might be affected. Most recently, in 2005, the California Attorney General sued to overturn the federal Weldon Conscience Amendment on the grounds that it was an unconstitutional infringement on the State of California to enforce its own abortion statutes. The suit was dismissed on procedural grounds.”

"Repealing this regulation will send a clear message that the government considers these civil rights unimportant and all but invite new instances of discrimination," said the Alliance. "We urge the Obama Administration to retain the 'Provider Conscience Regulation' in its current form."

© California Catholic Daily 2009. All Rights Reserved.