Our lame duck president has taken one last swipe at reproductive rights by granting pro-life health care providers a "pass" card to use when asked to distribute emergency contraception.
"WASHINGTON — A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds has provoked a torrent of objections, including a strenuous protest from the government agency that enforces job discrimination laws.
The proposed rule would prohibit recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and other health care workers who refuse to perform or to assist in the performance of abortions or sterilization procedures because of their "religious beliefs or moral convictions."
It would also prevent hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices and drugstores from requiring employees with religious or moral objections to "assist in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity" financed by the Department of Health and Human Services."
-NY Times, 11/17/08
As someone who lives with a chronic, incurable reproductive illness called endometriosis, I respect that my ob-gyn and I may have differing viewpoints on politics and policy. But if my life were in jeopardy due to a dangerous pregnancy, I know that my doctor would check politics at the door and save my life.
Thanks to Bush's plan, lesser-compassionate doctors in similar situations can say "thanks but no thanks" to patients asking for EC, abortions, birth control, or other measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
Moments like this make me wonder what kind of world we'd live in if men had vaginas and carried children. EC would be as available in men's bathrooms as tampons are in women's. No one would put the life of a fetus before the life of a grown adult male who just "forgot" to take his pill one night or who was sexually assaulted.
My anger to this point has been directed at the religious right who claim some degree of authority over my uterus and ovaries. Now, I'm angry at health care professionals who could be so selfish as to utilize this free pass to avoid following through on their oath to provide care to their patients because of some religious ideology that a few cells matter more than their grown patient.
Women who have been raped need care QUICKLY. They need to take EC as soon as possible, within 72 hours of the assault, to ensure effectiveness. What if the only doctor on call in the ER at that time is anti-choice? Oh sorry, Sally, because Dr. Walsh is on tonight instead of Dr. Davis, you're going to have to be pregnant with your assailants child or drive your traumatized self to another ER.
I am so unbelievably ill over this. I hope President Obama flushes this POS plan down the toilet the day he is inaugurated... unfortunately, that's easier said than done:
"Aides and advisers to Mr. Obama said he would try to rescind it, a process that could take three to six months."