Biden Health and Human Services Rule May Force Doctors to Perform Abortions

A doctor examines an eight-month pregnant woman at a health center in Denver, Colo., on March 15, 2017. Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images

A proposed Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule may force doctors to perform abortions against their conscience, according to the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds).

Doctors deal with life-and-death moral decisions constantly, and moral decisions have long been part of the medical profession, ACPeds said.

But recent modifications to how the HHS enforces congressional conscience laws leave doctors vulnerable to being forced to perform abortions.

“This proposed rule corrupts the practice of medicine, will hurt those who are most vulnerable, and undermines the enforcement of our federal conscience laws. Conscience rights are not second-class rights,” Dr. Mike Artigues, president of ACPeds, stated in a press release.

Two doctors perform surgery in Chongqing, China, on Aug. 9, 2013. Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

Artigues called the rule an “affront” to the conscience rights of doctors.

The rule change resembles a 2011 rule passed under former President Barack Obama, which the HHS deemed “inadequate” to protect conscience rights.

According to a letter by ACPeds, the new rule ignores congressional law and states that HHS must balance conscience protections and patient interest.

The procedures that must balance patients’ needs against conscience rights include abortion, sterilization, and assisted suicide, according to the proposed rule.

But on multiple votes, Congress chose conscientious objectors over balance, the letter states.

“Even if it is true that Congress sought to strike a balance between competing interests in matters of conscience, it is the responsibility of HHS to respect that balance by enforcing the laws as Congress has written them, not to unilaterally restructure the rules to fit the Department’s idea of what such a balance should look like,” the letter reads.

A further provision of the Biden administration rule prioritizes providing patients with all the abortions they want.

“Our health care systems must effectively deliver services—including safe legal abortions—to all who need them in order to protect patients’ health and dignity,” the rule reads.

When providing abortion is a “must,” then the right to conscience comes second, the ACPeds letter argues.

“The proposed rule leaves the public wondering how the Department will both enforce federal conscience laws while, at the same time, force health care professionals (in contradiction of these laws) to act against their consciences,” it states.

Abortions Over All

Already, the Biden administration has allowed the University of Vermont Medical Center to force a nurse to participate in an abortion despite her religious objections, the letter states.

The administration has also compelled nuns and others to provide insurance coverage for abortion, it also stated.

“We, as doctors, must not be forced to participate or train in procedures that kill one of our patients, the preborn baby, or fear being driven out of the health care field,” Artigues said.

To force objecting doctors into aiding in abortions, the new HHS rule simply steps back from enforcing laws, according to the ACPeds letter.

A doctor performs an ultrasound scan on a pregnant woman at a hospital in Chicago on Aug. 7, 2018. Teresa Crawford/AP Photo

Instead, it notes that the HHS’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) “can investigate complaints” and removes the penalties for violating the rules.

“The proposed rule does not require that incidents of discrimination be reported, relying instead entirely on voluntary reporting, which ... OCR may not even choose to investigate,” the ACPeds letter reads.

This lack of official reporting and formal complaint resolution leaves any conscientious objectors vulnerable to reprisal if they complain, according to the letter.

“As it stands, the proposed rule serves to discourage victims of discrimination from coming forward, as they cannot with any confidence expect that they will receive justice or even be protected from further injustice,” the letter reads.

Sacrificing Medicine’s Future

The implications of this new rule will drive conscientious people away from medicine, ACPeds stated.

If the government forces ethical doctors to choose between their job and their conscience, they will leave their job, the ACPeds letter states. It also stated that these choices would decrease the number of doctors when the United States already has a doctor shortage and would decrease the moral quality of doctors.

“This appears to be an intentional attempt by the government to purge from the system pediatricians and other physicians who practice ethical health care. This will dramatically worsen both the quality and accessibility of care in an already struggling health care system,” the letter reads.

Besides decreasing the number of ethical doctors, the HHS rule will reduce the overall number of doctors, the letter states.

A doctor looks at a patient's X-rays. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Already, the American Medical Association predicts that by 2034, the United States will have at least 17,800 fewer doctors than it needs.

By making it more difficult to be a doctor, the HHS’s actions will incentivize current doctors to leave medicine and prospective doctors to reconsider joining the profession, the letter states.

“If the government forces health care professionals to choose between conscience and career, America will lose current physicians and other health professionals who are already in high demand and short supply,” the letter reads.

Public comment on the HHS rule ended on March 6. It’s unclear when the rule could go into effect.

The HHS didn’t respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.