Government ruling would protect US healthcare workers who object to abortion

doi:10.1136/bmj.a1509

Published 2 September 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1509
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1509

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Government ruling would protect US healthcare workers who object to abortion

Janice Hopkins Tanne

¹ New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The US Department of Health and Human Services has issued adraft proposal to protect healthcare workers from discriminationif they object to abortion.

The regulation would apply to 584 000 employers in the healthcaresector that receive federal funding from programmes such asMedicare (which provides health insurance for elderly and somedisabled people), Medicaid (which provides insurance for poorpeople), those that offer reproductive health services to poorpeople, and biomedical research projects. It applies to doctorsand nurses and workers in "any activity with a reasonable connection"to the particular service.

Hospitals, doctors’ offices, nursing homes, and otherfacilities would have to certify in writing that they do notdiscriminate against employees who have religious or moral objectionsto abortion. Facilities could lose federal funding, face penalties,or be forced to return funds if they were found to discriminate.

The proposal is open for a 30 day . . . [Full text of this article]

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