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Pelosi: New Bush Administration Rule an Assault on Women's Health Care

December 18, 2008

Contact:Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the Bush Administration’s ‘refusal clause’ rule. While current law already protects the religious beliefs of health care providers and professionals, the scope of this new rule is so broad that it could limit women’s access to comprehensive health care and other services:

"In issuing this midnight regulation, the Bush Administration has once again rejected medical and sound science in favor of misguided ideology that has no place in our government. The Administration has ignored the opposition of the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Hospital Association, Members of Congress, and hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens and practitioners who made their informed views known to Health and Human Services.

"Make no mistake: this is a direct assault on women’s health care and may jeopardize patients’ rights to receive quality, comprehensive health care services. Congress will work with President-elect Obama to reverse this rule."