President Bush is trying to get one last proposal passed before leaving office, but it’s a proposal that’s in direct contradiction to legislation President-elect Barack Obama is planning on advocating once in office. 

Bush’s broad initiative would prohibit establishments which receive federal funding from discriminating against any health care worker that does not want to assist, or perform abortions or sterilizations because of religious beliefs or moral objections.

The proposed rule would also prevent a range of health-care facilities, including pharmacies, from requiring their workers to “assist in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity” funded by the Department of Health and Human Services if the activity violated religious convictions.

But the proposal may trigger an early reaction by the incoming administration of Barack Obama, and ultimately the result may be the closure of Roman Catholic hospitals in Kansas and across the country.

The proposed change in rules would protect Roman Catholics and many Protestants and others who have objections to abortions, sterilizations and research using harvested human embryos. The proposals are intended to clarify existing regulations and to ensure those regulations are followed.

However some media outlets, including The New York Times, have reported that Obama has said he will try to rescind the proposal, if it is implemented. That process could take three months or longer. 

In a 2007 speech before Planned Parenthood, Obama said, "The first thing I'd do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do." The FOCA would repeal the federal ban on partial-birth abortions and eliminate protections given to those who have moral and religious objections to abortions and sterilizations.

But Michael Schuttloffel, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, said a swift change in policies between the Bush and Obama administrations could have disastrous results on Catholic hospitals around the nation, including those in Kansas.

“Medical professionals at Catholic hospitals here in Kansas would obviously be very enthusiastic about Bush’s [protection] proposal, as they don’t want to face a situation where they could face losing their accreditation if they had a moral problem with performing abortions or referring them,” Schuttloffel told Kansas Liberty.

“If they do succeed in passing FOCA and removing these conscience protection rules then they are on the path of shutting down Catholic hospitals around the country," he said. "If it ever got to the point where Catholic hospitals were ordered to do procedures they think are morally unacceptable then they will shut down.”

Schuttloffel pointed out that since the nation was in transition between the Bush and Obama administrations, it's hard to speculate on exactly what will happen with the proposals.

“This isn’t the time to be sounding the alarm, though the possibilities are frightening,” he said. “This could hurt a lot of people that are maybe not paying attention to the politics and just want to go in to a hospital and get patched up.”

There are 15 acute-care hospitals in Kansas that are affiliated with the Catholic Health Association Facilities, and four of these hospitals are also affiliated with the Catholic Health Initiatives. 

In response to a request for comment from Kansas Liberty, Catholic Health Initiatives referred a reporter to a statement on its position on religious freedom in healthcare.

“The Catholic health care ministry must preserve the right to serve its patients in accord with religious values," the statement said. "If this freedom is taken away, Catholic health care providers may have to choose between violating their values and closing their doors. If that happens, our nation loses, important services such as obstetrics are threatened, and the safety net for the poor unravels further.”

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere,  the proposal is opposed by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, American Hospital Association and American Medical Association.  

The Bush proposal lists religious liberty, freedom of conscience and existing federal law provisions that prohibit recipients of federal funding from “coercing individuals in the health care field" to perform abortions and other procedures if they find them "religiously or morally objectionable.”

According to the proposal, the plan is supposed to help solve a current problem within the health care sector in which health care professionals are being subject to discrimination when they are required to provide medical procedures to which they object. The conflict is causing health care professionals to have to “decide between their capacity to practice in good standing and their right of conscience.”

The proposal includes guidelines for filing complaints and threatens that if compliance is not achieved then funding can be pulled. Proponents of the proposal include the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Health Association.

In a New York Times report, Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association said in that in recent years “we have seen a variety of efforts to force Catholic and other health care providers to perform or refer for abortions and sterilizations.”

But not all Catholics appear to be as concerned. Fred Solis, Communications Director for the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, said the Catholic Diocese of Wichita was not taking a position on the proposal.

“Our positions do concern life and one of the fundamental tenants of our faith is the sanctity and the sacredness of life,” Solis told Kansas Liberty. “So using contraception or those types of forms of medical procedures that preclude the possibility of life itself would be something that contradicts our beliefs. Our objective with our fellow Catholics is to inform them and impress upon them what our beliefs are and why we hold them so dearly and hopefully they will incorporate the church’s teaching and use those when they have to address things in the public sector.”

Resources:

• Read the statement by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2008/08-174.shtml
  

• Read Bush's proposal here: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/08/20080821reg.pdf

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