Lawsuits challenge HHS abortion conscience rule

Seven states and two abortion-rights groups have sued to block a controversial last-minute Bush administration rule reinforcing protections for physicians and other health care workers who object to providing abortion-related services based on their personal beliefs.

The three lawsuits are the latest in a series of moves to reverse the Dept. of Health and Human Services regulation for fear it will trump state laws guaranteeing access to a range of abortion-related services. The actions -- filed just five days before the rule's Jan. 20 effective date -- add to a flood of protests from members of Congress and the medical community, including the American Medical Association.

"The federal government is impermissibly interfering with carefully crafted and balanced state measures protecting patients and women," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who helped lead the multistate action. The other states that joined the suit are California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island. A pair of similar lawsuits also were filed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Assn.

The new rule builds on several laws on the books since the 1970s by authorizing HHS to withhold or revoke federal funds from recipients found coercing or discriminating against doctors who exercise their right of conscience. Health care entities, including some physicians, must certify in writing that they are in compliance with the regulation by Oct. 1. The rule also empowers the HHS Office for Civil Rights to investigate complaints of alleged discrimination.

HHS officials and some physicians have said the rule simply allows for enforcement of existing federal conscience protections. But other doctors have expressed fears that its broad language goes beyond those laws and would create barriers to patient care.

HHS never adequately responded to such comments, and thus it failed to take the regulatory steps necessary to pass the rule, according to the complaints filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. The regulation also forces states either to forego enforcement of state laws providing for access to such services as emergency contraception or risk losing federal funds, the plaintiffs alleged.

They are asking the court to declare the rule unconstitutional and permanently block its enforcement. At press time in mid-January, no hearing dates were set.

Meanwhile, some members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, Calif.), have pledged to work with President Barack Obama to reverse the rule, whether through legislative or regulatory measures.

HHS is still reviewing the lawsuits, said spokeswoman Rebecca Ayer. "The department followed appropriate procedures to put the regulation in place, and the regulation is fully supported by law," she said.