Calling it Abortion Instead of Birth Control Didn't Work, Now I'll Act Like I'm Protecting Doctors

The Health and Human Services new proposal, which would reclassify methods of birth control such as the pill, patch, ring and IUD as abortifacients, got too much criticism. You can read more details here.

Now the HHS has released a revised version of the proposal, which removed the redefinition of contraception as abortion, but centers on the idea of protecting doctors that are morally opposed to abortion and refuse to refer patients to other doctors that do perform abortions. That's right, if a doctor wants to block your attempt to have a legal abortion, this proposal would protect that doctor's right to do so. RH Reality Check has a great article on the revised proposal.

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has been trying to argue that the justification for these new regulations are because the poor doctors who would want to be Board certified OBGYNs would be FORCED to provide abortion services in order to be certifed, and forcing doctors to provide medical services that they disagree with is wrong. You can't keep someone from being a gynecologist just because they don't want to provide abortions! Except, oh, wait...there is nothing that requires OBGYNs to perform abortions...there are plenty of OBGYNS that don't offer abortions NOW, and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology has publicly stated, multiple times, that whether or not an OBGYN performs abortions will have no bearing upon their certification or re-certification. Leavitt doesn't seem to have an answer to this, so he just keeps ignoring the fact that this new argument of his is wrong. I guess he doesn't want to come right out and say that he wants to keep women barefoot and pregnant.

Here's an idea - why don't we all go over to Secretary Leavitt's blog right now and leave him some comments letting him know how we feel about these proposed regulations? The proposal is also open for public comment, it's HHS_FRDOC_0001. And check out this excellent comment on Leavitt's blog!

I've been trying to figure out when I can fit my tubal into my schedule, with work and personal and family events, since I'll need to allow a few days for recovery time. This makes me want to run out and get it RIGHT NOW!