President Bush's days may be numbered, but not his pro-life influence. In a monumental decision that will be felt well into the next administration, the White House-with the cooperation of the Department of Health and Human Services-made good on its promise to protect the faith and conscience of health care workers.

Today, the President fulfilled our longstanding request to issue new rules that reinforce the rights of doctors, pharmacists, technicians, and even receptionists. Earlier this fall, FRC had filed comments with HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, encouraging the agency to move forward with the rules. We applaud both him and President Bush for seeing the directive through to its completion.

This is a huge victory for religious freedom and the First Amendment. No one should be forced to have an abortion, and no one should be forced to be an abortionist. These regulations will ensure that conscience protection statutes will be strongly enforced by the government just as other civil rights laws are. It's also a victory for the right of patients to choose doctors who agree with their personal beliefs.

Unfortunately, the lack of regulations had created some confusion in the health care community, leaving medical professionals vulnerable to discrimination, and, in some cases, forcing them to drop their specialties at a crucial time for health care provision.

Protecting the right of all health care providers to make professional judgments based on their moral convictions is foundational to federal law. The next administration will inherit these rules, and we strongly urge President-elect Obama to defend them. True tolerance would allow the choice of conscience to be defined by individuals-not the government.



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