George Bush Hates Women--Stop Him!

If you haven't yet read this New York Times article, or seen this Salon.com piece, go read them (preferably now, then come back here).

Apparently George Bush has proposed a rule that would mean that any agency receiving federal funding cannot refuse to hire health care providers that object to abortion and birth control. Yes, the definition of abortion in this proposal could include some birth control, mainly hormonal birth control and emergency contraception (the kind that is given to rape victims).* So if you like your pills, or know someone who does, DO SOMETHING.

Any rule that would protect health professionals from doing their jobs is harmful to women. Any rule that allows the possibility of birth control to be reclassified as abortion is harmful to women. Birth control is NOT abortion, and any proposal that suggests that it is will effectively force responsible women to have children they do not want. This rule would give federal support to heath care professionals that refuse to provide basic heath care services to women (i.e., birth control). This is blatant, institutional sexism.

It really does not matter what you think about abortion here because this rule isn't just about abortion. I can't imagine any hospital or clinic forces doctors or nurses to take part in abortions they do not support (I mean really). But this has a potentially catastrophic impact on the ability of women to get birth control. Women who do not have the financial recourse to seek treatment elsewhere when denied services will be denied the ability to effectively control their reproductive health.

To suggest, as the proposal does, that it will prevent federal money from “support[ing] morally coercive or discriminatory practices or policies in violation of federal law” is absurd. The proposal is a morally coercive and discriminatory practice. It would make it possible to force a minority moral and religious position about birth control and abortion onto ALL American women. It denies the moral position of the female patient, it implies that individual women are not capable of making decisions about when and if they should have children, and it implies that doctors who support abortion and birth control are incompetent. This is outrageous.

Individual women are the only people with the authority to decide when and if they should have children. Adding rules that will effectively deny women the ability to make that choice is irresponsible, misogynist, and insulting. I am appalled that such a proposal would even be considered.

You can work through Planned Parenthood to generate a letter to Bush via the White House or donate money, or you can send an email to the Department of Heath and Human Services.

Thanks to Bitch PhD for the heads up.


*Edited to add: Yes, I know they work by preventing ovulation, but there is "debate" about this in anti-contraception groups, like the ones that would support measures like this.