US Dept of Health and Human Services wants to re-define standard birth

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/washington/15rule.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Bush administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.

Methods to include the pill, the patch, the shot, the ring, the IUD, and emergency contraception.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cristina-page/hhs-moves-to-define-contr_b_112887.html

Worse,

Up until now, the federal government followed the definition of pregnancy accepted by the American Medical Association and our nation's pregnancy experts, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which is: pregnancy begins at implantation. With this proposal, however, HHS is dismissing medical experts and opting instead to accept a definition of pregnancy based on polling data. It now claims that pregnancy begins at some biologically unknowable moment (there's no test to determine if a woman's egg has been fertilized). Under these new standards there would be no way for a woman to prove she's not pregnant. Thus, any woman could be denied contraception under HHS' new science. (emphasis mine)

Do what you can here:

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/spp08adv2 - Letter to congresscritters via Planned Parenthood
https://secure.ga0.org/02/pp10000 - Donate to Planned Parenthood

https://secure.prochoiceamerica.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=3253&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr009=dvijvhdh21.app45b - Letter to critters via NARAL
https://secure.prochoiceamerica.org/site/Donation2?1901.donation=form1&df_id=1901 - Donate to NARAL



Don't think this won't effect you if you don't use those methods of birth control - the pill is also used to help control fibroid tumors and to stabilize hormonal levels in the body for various reasons. If you're female, or care for a female, this is important.