Presidential Vetoes

The “gag rule” regulation, written and enforced by the Bush Administration, forbids a health care provider to mention abortion as part of the list of options available to a woman who is pregnant. This sets a dangerous precedent. By forcing the provider to withhold information and treatment options it sets a precedent, which can be extended to any medical situation that if government pays for health care it has the right to tell the health care provider which information and treatment options are permissible. The health care provider can be restricted from providing the best medical knowledge and advice.

The primary purpose of family planning clinics is to provide contraceptive options to women who are not pregnant. However, some women discover that they are pregnant in the clinic and require counseling about pregnancy options. They may be healthy women or women with heart trouble, diabetes, AIDS, or other conditions which make pregnancy dangerous or life threatening to the mother or fetus. The unavailability of prenatal care to poor women currently is so frequent that some of them do not know their health risks, or those to the fetus.

As health care providers we must be guided by our ethics and knowledge to provide our best professional information and advice. We cannot be gagged in family planning clinics or any other health facility from telling the patient what she needs to know to make an intelligent and informed decision.

MARJORIE BRAUDE MD, Chair, Governmental Affairs Committee, American Medical Women’s Assn., Los Angeles