The Department of Health and Human Services apparently believes that President Obama's (yeah, I still love typing it too) executive order freezing new Bush regulations also applies to the so-called "conscience" rule.
I am thrilled to break the news that we were wrong in our assessment that the DHHS "conscience" rule was too far along to fall under Obama's halt on new Bush regulations!
Before he left office, George W. Bush passed the dangerous "conscience" rule that would have allowed anyone from a receptionist, pharmacist, or appointment setter to deny patients medical care that they say violates their conscience. Although this regulation was designed to restrict women's reproductive health access, it could also have impacted end-of-life care, allowed a nurse to refuse to immunize children, a pharmacist to refuse drugs that treat HIV or AIDS, and could have had other far reaching impacts that we cannot yet envision. California and several other states had joined in a suit to prevent the regulation from taking effect.
Women's organizations believed that the regulation was too far along to have been stopped by President Obama's executive order, because it had already been published in the Federal Register, and was set to take effect January 19th, 2009 (a not-coincidental timing designed to make it harder for President Obama to undo).
However...
This just in from the California NOW Legislative Advocate:
While the regulatory process had been completed and the final regulations reported in the Federal Registry, HHS had not yet developed guidelines for implementation. [A contact at HHS confirms] the Department believes the regs. fall under President Obama’s executive order “freezing all last minute Bush administration regulations for review prior to final implementation”.
What a fantastic gift to women's reproductive freedom on the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade!
I asked the Legislative Advocate for confirmation when she gave us this news yesterday, because we just couldn’t believe it. That is what prompted her to double-check with a source at DHHS. We’re still holding our breath for an official DHHS statement, but I figured I had to report it.