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8/22/2008
An Open Letter to Secretary Leavitt
By Mary Jane Gallagher
Dear Secretary Leavitt,
I write to you concerning new regulations your department submitted this last week. Although the latest draft does not contain the same overt anti-contraception language as the earlier draft, we in the family planning community still have some questions and concerns.
We are deeply concerned that the new rules could infringe on access to family planning services. You mentioned in your comments that groups might seek to press the definition of abortion. We know what that means. There are forces at work that seek to deprive American families of their access to safe and effective methods of contraception by expanding the definition of abortion to include these resources.
Already, groups opposed to contraception have announced their intention to "press the definition." Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, an openly anti-contraception group, told The Wall Street Journal that her group would do exactly that. She said it would be excellent if states were deprived of their family planning funding for insisting on providing contraception. Not abortion, Secretary Leavitt, but contraception.
If these rules are interpreted to include contraception, it would be disastrous for the millions of Americans that rely on federally-funded health care providers. Families would have no way to ensure their access to comprehensive medical services. In a time when there are over 47 million uninsured Americans, we must protect the inalienable right to choose whether or not to have a child.
Furthermore, these regulations could interfere with multiple state laws. These are compassionate laws that do things like require emergency rooms to offer rape victims emergency contraception so that they need not deal with the added pain of an unwanted pregnancy. From the far right to the left, we are all interested in ensuring that children are born to families that are prepared to care for them while still protecting the rights of health care professionals. If these rules are extended to contraception, that goal will become harder to attain.
HHS and the family planning community have maintained a delicate balance between the rights of families to access medical services and the consciences of individual medical service providers. If interpreted incorrectly, these regulations risk seriously disturbing that equilibrium.
What I ask of you, Secretary Leavitt, is to clarify the rules as they are proposed. Release a statement saying that pressing the definition of abortion to include contraception is an unacceptable distortion of these regulations. You can preserve access to comprehensive family planning with just a few words. Until you take these steps, we have no choice but to assume contraception was the target all along.
Sincerely,
Mary Jane Gallagher
President & CEO
National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association
Posted on Fri, 22 Aug 2008, 05:57:43 PM
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