December 29, 2008

HHS Protects Health Care Providers from Discrimination

On July 30, 2008, I sent an Alert to which you responded and I wanted to give you some good news that resulted from our collective efforts.

You may recall that the issue on that day was the need to support efforts by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enforce laws that protect the moral and religious rights of pro-life workers.  These were efforts that were actively being sabotaged by a pro-abortion campaign.

Well, I have good news, on Thursday, December 18, 2008, HHS released their Final Regulation to Protect Health Care Providers from Discrimination. This new regulation states, “The right of federally funded health care providers to decline to participate in services to which they object, such as abortion, is affirmed by a final regulation that has been issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is on display today at the Federal Register.”

Under the incoming Obama administration, I expect we will need to be vigilant in ensuring that this new regulation is enforced.  In the meantime, it is a victory over which we do have cause to celebrate.

Blessings,

David Fowler

President, Family Action of Tennessee