In 2010 Tamesha Means, who was just 18 weeks pregnant, was rushed to a Catholic hospital near her house in Michigan after he water broke, however the doctors there failed to inform her that continuing her pregnancy could threaten her health and that abortion was her safest option. Instead they sent her home. When she returned the next day bleeding form painful contractions they sent her home again, and the day after they were ready to send her home again when she miscarried at the hospital.
Cases like this, in which a provider’s religious beliefs take precedence over a patient’s needs, could become more common because of a series of recent White House decisions that please the anti-abortion movement. The decisions may make it more difficult for teenagers wanting to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases, for gay men looking to prevent HIV and even for women seeking breast exams or pap smears.
But in a list of definitions, the administration would expand the meaning of “assisting” to include making referrals to a different provider, or even simply counseling a patient on her options. In the same list, the department broadly redefines “work force” so religious protections can apply not just to the nurse in the room, but also to the scheduler, the janitor and the security guard outside.
“The definition of ‘to assist’ is unparalleled,” said Louise Melling, the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It goes so far as to include someone objecting to checking you in, someone objecting to doing your insurance paperwork, someone objecting to even taking your temperature.”
Read the full story at The New York Times
