The proposed regulation, published Wednesday in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, allows federal health officials to pull funding from more than 584,000 hospitals, clinics, health plans, doctors' offices and other entities if they do not accommodate employees who refuse to undergo training for abortions or provide referrals for abortions on personal, moral or religious grounds.
Secretary Michael Leavitt said that the plan does not seek to expand the definition of abortion but seeks to safeguard anti-abortion workers from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways.
The proposed regulation, which could go into effect after a 30-day comment period, is now open for public comment. The regulation covers not only training programs and research activities but anyone involved in abortions, from employees expected to wash instruments used in the procedures to operating room nurses, Leavitt said.
The new rule is broad enough to protect pharmacists, doctors, nurses and others from providing birth control pills, Plan B emergency contraception and other forms of contraception, and explicitly allows workers to withhold information about such services and refuse to refer patients elsewhere.
The regulation, which would cost more than $44 million to implement, was welcomed by conservative groups, abortion opponents and others as necessary in today's time.
