Maybe President Bush is smarter than he appears. After all, it takes an
aspect of cunning to introduce a proposal that would require federally
funded medical institutions to hire health care providers who don't
believe in abortion or birth control, and present it as an
"anti-discrimination rule." I imagine even Houdini could not achieve
such an act of illusion.

But it's a pretty cruel trick. The new rule
would basically force hospitals, medical schools, clinics and
researchers to hire health care providers who don't believe in
providing certain medical services.

This may be President Bush's last gasp at an attempt to leave a legacy appeasing the evangelical right that brought him into office. Bush's sneaky attempt to impose his own moral and religious framework onto institutions responsible for caring for the health of our citizens worries many family planning professionals, who say that the rule will result in decreased access to birth control for many women.

Furthermore, the proposal expresses concern about state laws requiring hospitals to issue emergency contraception to rape victims who request it. Is the Bush administration telling hospitals that they have to hire people who will ignore a patient's request AND state law? Bush really knows how to pick worthy recipients of federal funding.

The proposal claims the requirement is needed to ensure that federal money "does not support morally coercive or discriminatory practices." And yet, if this proposal is not a morally coercive and discriminatory slap in the face to women who want a choice for their own bodies, I don't know what is. Help us defeat this proposal and support the choices of our nation's women by signing Progressive Future's petition to the Department of Health and Human Services, asking them to reject Bush's deceitful proposal.