Every sperm is sacred: Draft rules from feds stir birth control controversy
It's no secret that opponents of abortion have also been waging a war against birth control in recent years. Socially conservative lawmakers in Wisconsin and elsewhere have complied with proposals aimed at allowing pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control and prohibiting university health systems from distributing emergency contraception.
So it was perhaps of little surprise that the Bush administration has been quietly working on draft regulations that would further restrict the contraceptive options family planning clinics are able to offer their low-income clients, if the clinics receive federal funds. For starters, the draft rules, as leaked to and reported in the New York Times, would require clinics to certify that they would not refuse to hire staff who object to abortion and birth control.
But the regulations go a step further by redefining abortion as "any of the various procedures -- including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action -- that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."
It is exactly the terminology Matt Sande had hoped to see.
"We're very pleased with their definition of abortion," says Sande, director of legislative affairs for Pro-Life Wisconsin, which opposes all forms of birth control other than natural planning methods. "There are forms of abortion post-implantation and pre-implantation. Both end a newly formed human life.
"The pro-life medical professional community does not differentiate morally between the two."
All mainstream medical associations, however, do.
As the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reminded Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt in a recent letter, the administration's proposed definition of abortion is "inconsistent with all established medical authorities and is so broad and inexact that it could include even basic widely used methods of birth control, including oral contraception and intrauterine devices."
Chris Taylor, political director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, says the draft regulations, if approved and implemented, could have "far-ranging ramifications" for Wisconsin. "We just passed a birth control proactive measure -- the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill -- that could be very much impacted by this new rule," Taylor said.
The bill, recently signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle after a bruising battle in the state Legislature, requires hospitals to dispense emergency contraception -- also known as the morning-after pill -- to rape victims if requested.
Because emergency contraception can sometimes work by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg, Pro-Life Wisconsin and some conservative Republican legislators opposed the measure.
The draft rules are largely seen as push back to such bills, which are viewed as eroding so-called conscience protection measures that allow health care providers to opt out of services they find morally offensive.
"Everybody is aware of the fact that if you were to take this definition seriously you would now make certain forms of birth control functionally equivalent to abortion," says University of Wisconsin-Madison bioethicist Alta Charo, who has written extensively on the topic. And, she adds, "it would enhance the argument made by some physicians and pharmacists that they can abandon patients because they oppose abortion and can therefore refuse to fill prescriptions."
News of the regulations came shortly after the presumptive Republican nominee for president made headlines for giving one of the most awkward responses to a reporter's question since the start of the campaign. The topic happened to be birth control.
A reporter asked Sen. John McCain whether it was fair that some health insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control. McCain rolled his eyes in a look of exasperation, and then paused for a very long time before saying, "I don't know enough about it to give you a (sic) informed answer." See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2y8dYwq01g.
The reporter also tried to confirm whether McCain had voted in the past against bills that would have required insurance companies to cover contraception. McCain said he wasn't sure how he had voted. "I don't usually duck an issue but I'll try to get back to you," he said.
According to the New York Times blog, The Caucus, a McCain aide later tried to explain his candidate's position, stating that the senator voted against one such bill because it funded emergency contraceptives.
The McCain campaign, however, did not get back to The Cap Times despite repeated requests for comment on the Bush administration's draft rules on funding for family planning clinics and its revised definition of abortion.
The presumptive Democratic candidate, however, joined 28 other senators in a July 23 letter to Leavitt, saying the proposed rule would limit women's family planning options and access to health care services.
"As a matter of public policy," Sen. Barack Obama and others wrote, "it is utterly irresponsible for the federal government to hinder women's access to contraceptive services. We urge you not to pursue this course of action as it would seriously undermine the access of millions of American women to affordable and effective reproductive health care."
Family planning advocates are already seizing on the issue of birth control as campaign fodder. Planned Parenthood ran commercials with a shot of McCain's deer-in-headlights moment in battleground states, including Wisconsin. The ads aired during shows aimed at women, like "Project Runway" and the "Oprah Winfrey Show."
Nicole Safar of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin says the draft regulations give her group another opportunity to highlight the candidates' different positions on contraception.
"It gets people talking about access to birth control that Sen. McCain doesn't support," Safar said.
Mike DeVries/The Capital Times
The Bush administration has been quietly working on regulations to further restrict the contraceptive options family planning clinics are able to offer.
