(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told a gathering of pro-abortion activists that the Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations put in place by the Bush administration to protect medical professionals who work in institutions that receive federal funding and morally oppose certain practices, such as abortion, is “short-sighted” and should be rescinded by President Obama.
 
Murray also praised Obama for reversing the Mexico City Policy shortly after taking office, ending a ban on federal funds being provided to non-governmental groups around the globe that promote or perform abortions.
 
“On the first day of [the Bush] administration in 2001, President Bush reinstated the Global Gag Rule – the policy that hurts the world’s poorest women and children and ties the hands of health organizations and not-for-profits who are out there trying to make a difference,” Murray said after receiving the Distinguished Public Servant Award from the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
 
“And then, on his way out the door, President Bush succeeded in implementing a rule that would limit family planning and women’s health care here at home,” Murray said of the HHS’s “right of conscience” clause.
 
“I want you to know I am going to keep fighting for a reversal of that HHS provider-refusal regulation,” Murray said.
 
“It’s so important. It’s so short-sighted. You know, when we have 45 million Americans who are underserved and women and families are already struggling to access basic health care, it’s just wrong to make access to health care even more difficult,” she added.
 
Murray also claimed the rule would harm U.S. health providers.
 
“That rule will restrict and undermine health care at about 600,000 of our heath care centers and pharmaceutical hospitals across America,” she said.
 
She was joined in her criticism of the HHS regulation – which Obama announced in March his administration would be reviewing – by Jennifer Davlen, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Reproductive Freedom Project, who accepted the Defense of Freedom Award on behalf of the ACLU.
 
As part of the project, the ACLU and the NFPRHA filed a lawsuit in federal court on Jan. 15, challenging the regulation.
 
“The Bush administration pushed through this rule as its parting shot against women’s health,” Mary Jane Gallagher, NFPRHA’s president and CEO, said in a statement the day of the filing.
 
“This rule threatens access to contraception and leaves patients with few protections, especially low-income and uninsured women who rely on federally funded health centers for care,” Gallagher said.
 
In accepting her award, Davlen called the rule “dangerous” and said she was “honored” to help NRPRHA fight for its repeal.
 
But in issuing the regulation in December, then-Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said it was designed to prevent discrimination against medical professionals who had a moral or religious objection to certain practices, including performing abortion or prescribing medications that can cause an abortion, as reported by CNSNews.com.
 
“Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience,” Leavitt said. “This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience.”
 
Although the rule protects health care workers from providing services that are against their conscience, it does not prevent a medical professional or health institution from providing any legal service, including abortion.
 
Murray also was cheered for her remarks about the Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to make the “Plan B” emergency contraceptive, available to women 17 and older.
 
Julie Rabonovitz, vice president of clinical operations at Planned Parenthood of Illinois and the chair of NFPRHA’s board of directors, warned the group about complacency and “extremists.”
 
“There’s much more work to do,” Rabonovitz said. “We must continue to fight for additional resources to serve the millions of people who still do not have access to services. And we must continue to fight attacks from extremists who continue to oppose the work that we do.”
 
On the eve of Obama’s 100 days as president, Murray said she was “excited about the new administration.”
 
“What a difference 99 days can make,” Murray said.