The Bush administration announced plans last Thursday to introduce a regulation designed to protect healthcare workers who refuse to provide women with birth control services due to its confliction with their personal beliefs. Furthermore, this plan will prevent any employee from being pressured into performing any tasks they deem offensive.

The Herald, a Monterey County newspaper, reported that the new proposed plan gives federal health officials the green light to cut funding from nearly 600,000 hospitals, clinics, health plans and other facilities if employees are not accommodated after a decision to reject giving care to patients for either moral, personal or religious reasons.
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told reporters that people “should not be forced to provide services that violate their own conscience.”

The Herald also noted that the $44 million regulation could go into effect after a 30-day, response period that will give both proponents and opponents of the new plan a platform to voice their opinions. After an early draft of the regulation was leaked in July, more responses were made.

Critics have already responded to the proposed regulation, which allows pharmacists to withhold birth control pills and enables doctors to refuse to inform patients about other contraceptives. Cecile Richards of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America told reporters that "women's ability to manage their own healthcare is at risk of being compromised by politics and ideology."

“At a time when more and more Americans are either uninsured or struggling with the soaring costs of healthcare, the federal government should be expanding, not hampering access to important health services,” said Louise Melling, director of the Reproductive Freedom Project.

This regulation has been a topic of discussion for more than 30 years. After the 30-day period, the country will find out if healthcare workers will have new rights.