Okay, WHAT?

[eruthros]

On a new proposed US Health and Human Services Department regulation:

The administration drafted the proposal to implement laws prohibiting recipients of federal funds from penalizing health practitioners who refuse to perform abortions or provide abortion referrals.

The draft proposal covers Catholic Charities and other employers who object to abortion, by defining their insurers as health practitioners. It would define abortion as any procedure or drug that terminates a human life after conception, "whether before or after implantation."

This means, of course, that health insurance plans could choose not to cover contraception because it's against their religious beliefs -- it's basically a regulation drafted to keep California and New York (and a few other states) from enforcing their laws requiring insurance companies that cover viagra to also cover various forms of contraceptives. AND IT"S DEFINING CONTRACEPTION AS ABORTION TO DO IT. ON A FEDERAL LEVEL. YOU GUYS.

More here.

Apparently this has been open to public comment since August 7th; was there some big hoopla about it that I didn't notice 'cause of being out of the country?

Comments

[cereta.livejournal.com]

The New York Times covered it (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/washington/15rule.html?_r=4&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1219332650-EPfW4wrSInvK9+/vnMNT/w).

[eruthros]

The things you miss when you only read the BBC text-only frontpage and filter all your email!

Thanks for the info, that actually makes me feel a little bit better. I mean, that at least it hit the MSM before ... now.