Thursday, January 15, 2009 8:08 PM EST

Suit challenges rule that protects health workers who refuse to do abortions
Blumenthal files on behalf of 7 states
By Susan Haigh | Associated Press

HARTFORD — Seven states sued the federal government Thursday over a new rule that expands protections for doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other medical procedures because of religious or moral objections.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed the lawsuit in federal court in Hartford on behalf of the states.

They claim the federal rule, issued by the Bush administration last month and set to take effect Tuesday, would trump state laws protecting women's access to birth control, reproductive health services and emergency contraception.

Blumenthal said the regulations "are flawed and defective" and would "unconstitutionally and unconscionably interfere with women's health care rights."

Blumenthal said the rule "shrouds the term abortion in new and unnecessary ambiguity" and encourages medical providers to define it themselves and deny patients contraception, including emergency contraception for rape victims.

At stake are billions of dollars in federal public health money received annually by the states.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could order a return of all HHS funds from state and local governments that violate the regulation.

Rebecca Ayer, director of media affairs for the department, said the agency has not yet reviewed the lawsuits and will respond to them in court.

"The department followed appropriate procedures to put the regulation in place and the regulation is fully supported by law," Ayer said.

Under long-standing federal law, institutions may not discriminate against individuals who refuse to perform abortions or provide a referral for one. The administration has said the new rule is intended to ensure that federal funds don't flow to providers who violate those laws.

"Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said last month when the rule was issued.

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has said he will deal with "all eleventh-hour regulations" once he is president.

While campaigning in August, Obama criticized the proposal: "This proposed regulation complicates, rather than clarifies the law. It raises troubling issues about access to basic health care for women, particularly access to contraceptives," he said.

But opponents of the new rule say it could take Obama 60 to 90 days to roll back the new HHS regulation.

California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island joined Connecticut in the lawsuit, which seeks a court order blocking the new rule.

Planned Parenthood of Federation of America Inc. and National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, said they are filing separate, parallel lawsuits. Several members of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday also introduced legislation designed to stop the new regulation.

Mary Jane Gallagher, president and CEO of the family planning association, said the rule is unnecessary because there have been laws on the books for decades protecting medical providers if they refuse to participate in abortions and sterilization services.

She accused the Bush administration of trying to appease religious conservatives who are opposed to contraception.

"It's all ideology. It is how to appeal to this small minority of people who don't want women and men to have reproductive health choices," she said.

Gallagher said the rule most likely will affect poor and uninsured women who rely on family planning clinics for counseling, education and contraception.

Planned Parenthood said there are 27 states with laws and/or policies requiring insurance companies that cover prescription drugs to cover FDA-approved contraceptive drugs and devices.

There are seven states that require some plans to cover contraception; 17 states that require hospital emergency rooms to provide emergency contraception-related services to rape victims; and 13 states that prevent pharmacists or pharmacies from obstructing access to contraception, the group said.

In Connecticut, lawmakers said they fear the new rule could derail a law that requires all hospitals, including Roman Catholic ones, to provide emergency contraception to rape victims. After years of debate and delicate negotiations, the law was passed in 2007. It allows hospitals to hire an outside company to prescribe the contraception.