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A crucial reminder: Thursday, April 9 is the last day the federal Department of Health and Human Services will accept public comment on whether it should maintain, discard or otherwise change the conscience protections for medical professionals put in place only last December! We had a great response from many of you the last time we posted something about this, so for those who haven’t e-mailed HHS, please do! Every comment matters, and you know Planned Parenthood and NARAL aren’t staying silent.

Not only is it unconscionable to make anyone, much less medical professionals, perform actions against their religious beliefs (such as abortion), it would have a disastrous affect as well: It would no doubt force religiously affiliated hospitals, such as Catholic-run hospitals, to close down rather than perform procedures contrary to their faith. Unfortunately, some would rather kow-tow to the extremist abortion-at-all-costs mentality than see this very real decimation to this segment of our health care system, one that provides millions of dollars of charitable health care each year. Pretty ironic — sad, really — coming from an administration so concerned with health care for those who can’t afford it.

The amazing thing is that it’s even come to this in America, where you supposedly are guaranteed freedom to practice your religion. Instead, a Christian nurse, for example, could be fired for not participating in an abortion if these safeguards are repealed.  

Cardinal Francis George, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the current regulations ”one part of the range of legal protections for health care workers — for doctors, nurses and others — who have objections in conscience to being involved in abortion and other killing procedures that are against how they live their faith in God.”

Incredibly, the other side claims that repealing these regulations is necessary to increase medical care opportunities for those seeking certain services.

Writing HHS is simple: Click here for the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment and/or here for the U.S. Catholic Bishops, both of which have information to use in your comments as well as the HHS e-mail link; or, simply e-mail HHS from here at proposedrescission@hhs.gov.

Thanks to our friends at The Virginia Catholic Conference — who do fantastic work keeping up with federal issues, especially regulatory matters that don’t require Congressional action and therefore aren’t in a big a media spotlight — we have an urgent reminder that the Obama Administration is losing no time in trying to force medical workers of faith into providing services they find objectionable.

On February 27, it announced its intention to remove current regulations, put in place by the Bush Administration late last year, that protect conscience rights in health care. On March 10, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a formal proposal to rescind these regulations, thereby activating a 30-day period for the public to submit comments. 

The National Committee for a Human Life Amendment has devised an Action Alert explaining why the regulations should be retained and providing directions on how to submit comments to HHS (click here). E-mail messages can be sent directly through the NCHLA Action Center. A preset message is provided, to which the sender can add personal comments. 

Please submit your comments before the April 9 deadline! 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has set up a special Web site with that provides a wealth of information and resources on conscience protection (click here), including a link to the NCHLA Action Center message. We encourage you to visit that site and others to fully arm yourself on the issue.  

Churches are encouraged to display the NCHLA and USCCB links on their Web pages. Highlighting the critical importance of the current conscience regulations, Cardinal Francis George, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said:

They are “one part of the range of legal protections for health care workers — for doctors, nurses and others — who have objections in conscience to being involved in abortion and other killing procedures that are against how they live their faith in God.” 

Removing these conscience regulations “would be the first step in moving our country from democracy to despotism.”

The Obama HHS promises to be as destructive as ever toward the unborn. Its secretary-designate, Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic, was the most pro-abortion-on- demand governor in the country before her nomination. He extremist policy positions prompted Archbishop Raymond L. Burk to call her an “embarrassment” (Catholic News Agency). It will take every possible effort to counter the new adminstration’s pro-abortion initiatives. Pro-life Virginia activists responded in numbers to impress upon the Bush Administration how important these medical professional conscience protections are (see previous commentary). A redoubled effort is required to convince the Obama Administration to retain them.