On Friday, we were excited to let you know that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under President Obama has proposed to rescind (PDF) President Bush’s Health Care Denial Rule, which undermines the ability of American women to obtain basic reproductive health care, including birth control and information about abortion. We told you that we would need your help to convince HHS to follow-through with its proposal and rescind this misguided regulation. But, we asked you to hold your horses.
Well, now we’re saying, ready, set, go! The public comment period on the proposed rescission opened today and continues through April 9, so send in your comment and tell your friends to do the same!
When we first told you about the Bush regulation, more than 40,000 of you took action through our Action Center to tell Bush’s HHS not to implement the Health Care Denial Rule. Despite receiving more than 200,000 comments, the overwhelming majority of which opposed the rule, the Bush administration finalized the damaging regulation. Now, the Obama administration is working to undo the harm.
We need to show them that we are just as committed to rescission as we were angry about implementation. It might be tempting to think that action is less imperative this time, when the administration is proposing to do what we’d like it to do (how refreshing after eight years of an anti-choice executive branch!), but we need to be just as engaged now if we want HHS to follow through with its proposal to rescind the Health Care Denial Regulation. Therefore, please take action now, and forward our alert to everyone in your address book who cares about women’s access to basic reproductive health care.
