In God-botherers we trust (480 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.41 on 7 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Daniel Jackings (View user info) at 2008-09-12 14:57:20 EDT
Hey folks, read this.
In July you responded in full force to a Get Active Alert about a proposed regulation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that would permit health providers to refuse to provide health care based on religious or moral objection even though they are receiving federal funds. This is a clear violation of the separation of church and state, as well as a threat to anyone—woman or man—seeking reproductive health care. Thank you so much for speaking out.
Now, that proposed regulation has become a draft that will become law unless you let it be known you think it is wrong for anyone to foist their religious beliefs on others. Please comment on this draft regulation by going to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt's blog (http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/my_weblog/2008/08/physician-con-2.html) and clicking on the link within his entry labeled "comments in the Federal Register." Send an email with your comments expressing your opposition to this regulation, which threatens reproductive health care both in the U.S. and internationally.
Tell Secretary Leavitt that you will not tolerate ideological interference with the delivery of reproductive health services!
The public comment period closes September 25, so please write today.
The regulation purports to extend statutes that have been in place since the 1970s: the Church Amendments (42 U.S.C. § 300a-7), Public Health Service (PHS) Act §245 (42 U.S.C. § 238n), and the Weldon Amendment (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-161, § 508(d), 121 Stat. 1844, 2209). It extends them by requiring written assurances from recipients of federal funds that they will not discriminate against either individuals or institutions that refuse services on grounds of religious or ideological belief.
The major difference from the July proposed regulation is that this draft does not include a definition of abortion. The regulation simply talks about "abortion and sterilization." But this is much worse, because it means that the provider can call abortion pretty much anything s/he wants, including all forms of contraception.
Here's a possibility: a woman—one of the 17 million who rely on publicly funded health care providers for family planning—could go to a clinic and be refused emergency contraception because the receptionist believes, wrongly, that it causes an early abortion. The provider doesn't have to give the woman a referral to another provider, and consequently, the woman's right to control her reproductive process—her own body—has been obstructed by the receptionist's religious views.
In addition, because the regulation requires written assurances, it affects record-keeping in more than 590,000 medical offices and institutions throughout the U.S, to the tune of an estimated $44.5 million annually—money that would be better spent on the care of the women coming to clinics for help. The regulation would also cause chaos in the delivery of services, because anyone, from a secretary through the person who cleans instruments after surgical procedures, could refuse to work at any time on the grounds that any association with abortion, no matter how remote, goes against their conscience.
The Center for Inquiry/Office of Public Policy is submitting comments, but anyone who wishes can also send them. As citizens, we must let our voices be heard against this assault on public health services. This regulation MUST BE STOPPED.
Keep politics out of reproductive health care!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh wow. Here is the question that needs answering: Why the fuck is religion interfering with health care? As if it's not bad enough that separation between church and state is being eroded, we're now looking at contamination of hospitals and schools as well? How the hell did that disgusting brainwashing institution get so much power? People, this is what happens when you let delusional whackjobs into power.
Four more years!
User Reviews
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2008-09-13 16:50:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2008-09-13 16:50:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Ltap (user info) at 2008-09-12 16:47:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
How the hell did that disgusting brainwashing institution get so much power?
------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I#Religious_policy
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2008-09-12 15:07:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Jack - how do you know that's him?
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-09-12 15:01:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
More important news...
nonuts revealed...
http://flickr.com/photos/36521981324@N01/129581050
Submitted by forensicgirl3 (user info) at 2008-09-12 14:59:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You copied and pasted a comment and used it for a post?!
Submitted by St_Jimmy (user info) at 2008-09-12 14:59:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
This really didn't need its own post. http://www.ubersite.com/m/118662#2780297