Obama plans to throw out the controversial “conscience rule”
The Obama administration is expected today to rescind a controversial rule that allows health-care workers to deny abortion counseling or other family planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs. The rollback of the so-called “conscience rule” comes just two months after the Bush administration announced it late last year in one of its final policy initiatives. Seven states, including California, Illinois and Connecticut, as well as two family planning groups, have filed lawsuits challenging the Bush rule, arguing that it sacrifices the health of patients to religious beliefs of medical providers.