Obama Administration Makes Official Move to Repeal Federal Refusal Rule
Posted: 03/06/2009
Pro-choice Americans praise effort torescind last-minute Bush rule
that limits women's access to basic healthcare, including contraception
Washington, D.C.Nancy Keenan,president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, today hailed the Obama administrationfor publishing the official notice announcing its intention to repeal theFederal Refusal Rule.
Thisrule, put in place in the closing days of the Bush administration, couldallow insurance companies to deny claims for the birth-control pill, hospitals torefuse emergency contraception to rape survivors, and employees at HMOs torefuse their patients referrals for abortion care.
"After enduring eight years of persistent attackson women's freedom and privacy from the Bush administration, it is great to continueto receive good news from the new administration," Keenan said. "Aswe move through the process to repeal a dangerous Bush-era rule, we lookforward to working with the Obama administration to change the tone of the debateover reproductive rights by protecting women's access to contraception andother basic health care that actually help preventunintended pregnancies."
NARAL Pro-Choice America,which was cited in the original July 15, 2008 article in The New York Timesabout the proposed regulation, channeled more than 25,000 comments to theDepartment of Health and Human Services (HHS) website when this proposal wasfirst introduced. Leadingmembers of the U.S. Senate and House from both sides of the debate overreproductive rights sent letters calling on then-HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt toabandon the regulation. In addition, medical organizations, faith-based groups,governors, state attorneys general, state legislators, and even members of theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission called for the Bush administration toabandon the proposed regulation.
