Message from Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Just before Thanksgiving—a time Americans give thanks for our freedoms—Congress was busy curtailing reproductive freedom. In a behind-the-scenes maneuver, the Republican leadership tucked a provision into the massive $388 billion appropriations bill that will enable health care companies, hospitals and insurance companies to ignore Roe v. Wade. The provision—which pro-choice advocates term the Federal Refusal Clause—will give the go-ahead to health-care entities to bypass state and local laws and regulations that make certain that women's access to reproductive health services includes access to abortion.
The intention behind the Federal Refusal Clause is to further curtail already dwindling access to abortion services and even counseling that mentions abortion as a legal option. The provision does this by denying federal financing to government agencies that ''discriminate'' against health care providers who choose for any reason to disregard state mandates to offer abortion-related services. This is a vast expansion of the ''conscience clauses" already in place in 45 states, which appropriately protect individuals who have objections to abortion based on religion. The Federal Refusal Clause treats HMOs, health care insurers, and hospitals as individuals—and in doing so, places their preferences above those of patients.
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice agrees with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)—who said the provision is "a disgraceful display of ideology over health"—and with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who called the provision "an ill-advised policy that is clearly harmful to women."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has promised that he will schedule a vote next year on a bill sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) that would repeal the abortion-related language. We promise to hold Frist to his promise.
