I'm guessing Democrats are determined to be the Party of Death. The no-holds-barred embrace of abortion has been obvious for decades, but now they're upset because President Bush proposed a conscience clause that would allow doctors and nurses to refuse to perform abortions.
The draft rule, first reported by The New York Times, is known as a "conscience clause" because it would allow nurses and doctors who have ethical or moral objections to abortion or birth control to refuse to prescribe or provide those services to patients. The rule proposes to cut off money to any grant recipient or hospital that refuses to hire doctors and nurses who object to abortion.
The problem, according to reproductive rights advocates, is that the definition of "abortion" by the Bush administration is so broad that it could extend to other forms of contraception. HHS is proposing that abortion be defined as any drug or procedure that "that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation,” the Times reported. The last part of the definition could include birth control pills or emergency contraception, which prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb.
Feminists are all over this (see here, here and here for some examples of the hysteria. But, as Orrin Judd says,
In what parallel universe...is there a political advantage for Democrats in defending the idea that your tax dollars should be used to discriminate against Christians? The reality is that in large swathes of the country there are no doctors who perform abortions, not just because they have to live with themselves but because they have to face their neighbors.
It's unfortunate for the pro-choice types that virtually no one is ignorant about abortion these days. Ranting that doctors and nurses shouldn't have the freedom to say no shows desperation. And, farther down in the Politico article, it states,
To be clear, this proposed rule will not prohibit any reproductive services from being offered at clinics, hospitals or facilities that receive federal grants.
But don't expect the abortion shills to point that out.
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