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RCRC Letter Supporting Recission of Rule

April 3, 2009

Office of Public Health and Science
Department of Health and Human Services
Attention: Rescission Proposal Comments
Hubert H. Humphrey Building
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 716G
Washington, DC 20201

Dear Sir or Madam:

On behalf of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, (RCRC) I write in support of the rescission of the final rule "Ensuring That Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies or Practices in Violation of Federal Law."

RCRC is an interfaith alliance of national mainstream religious organizations dedicated to ensuring access to reproductive health care and achieving reproductive justice. The Coalition works for public policies that honor diverse religious beliefs and each person’s decisions about whether and when to have children. We seek a society that values human life and human dignity and honors individual conscience. We believe that government must never mandate the tenets of one religion.

As a coalition whose faith communities represent millions of Americans, we strongly opposed the Bush Administration’s poorly conceived and inappropriate regulation. This rule unnecessarily expands the rights of providers at the expense of the health care needs of their patients. The regulation creates substantial obstacles to women and families obtaining reproductive and general health care, and does not respect the conscience of women acting in the best interest of themselves and their families. Under this regulation, patients need not be notified about the services and information their health care providers refuse to offer. This undermines patients’ trust that providers will present complete and accurate information.

We live in a religiously pluralistic society, and, as a nation, we believe in protecting religious expression and freedom. There are conscience protections, which we support, already in law that allow providers to opt out of offering services if they have moral or religious objections. But the faith concerns of a few must not deny women access to medically needed, legally allowed health care options. Low-income women confront barriers to services which have resulted in intolerable disparities in their health in comparison to that of their higher income counterparts. The Bush regulation sets up additional challenges for the most vulnerable populations.

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice strongly supports the rescission of this regulation. We are grateful to the Obama Administration for pursuing this needed policy change.

Peace and blessings,

Reverend Carlton W. Veazey
President and CEO