The Human Rights Campaign today expressed concern over Department of Health and Human Services regulations regarding "provider conscience." These regulations purport to interpret federal law to allow a health care provider to refuse to provide any health care service or information for a religious or moral reason. These regulations could impair LGBT patients' access to care services if interpreted to permit providers to choose patients based upon sexual orientation, gender identity or family structure. In addition, under these regulations a provider might be able to refuse to administer an HIV test to a gay patient, and even be exempt from the statutory duty to tell the patient where else he could receive the test. Under the regulation, a pharmacist could refuse to fill a prescription for hormone therapy if she has religious objection to transgender people. The regulations would also threaten women's access to comprehensive health care by permitting pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraception even when doing so significantly burdens the patient's access, or to refuse to participate in an emergency abortion even when the woman's health is at risk. The regulations override many state laws protecting patients' access to medical services.
"These regulations sacrifice patients' right to medical care, permitting providers to refuse to do their jobs when they choose," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "We ask the Bush administration: what happened to
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