Pointing to comments made at the University of Notre Dame by pro-abortion President Barack Obama, pro-life Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), held a press conference yesterday in which they asked Obama to live up to what he said by publicly forgoing his Administration's move to rescind the Bush Administration conscience protection.

L to R: Rep. John Fleming, M.D. (R-La.), Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wi.)

In their appearance and in a letter sent to Obama, Sensenbrenner and Smith highlighted a statement Obama made as part of his commencement address. "Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women," Obama told the graduating class.

That is a far cry from what happened in late February when the Obama Administration announced that it would begin "reviewing" the regulations implementing conscience laws, the first step toward rescinding the rule altogether.

At issue are the December 2008 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations to implement the federal conscience protection laws that Congress has enacted over the last 35 years.

The regulation was designed to raise awareness in the medical community and general public, as well as increase compliance with federal laws protecting doctors and health care providers from discrimination by federally funded entities.

Pro-abortion pressure groups are campaigning to force a broad range of health care providers to participate in abortion. In opposing the proposed recession, NRLC cautioned in a letter to HHS, "[T]he federal government should not rescind this carefully crafted regulation designed to safeguard against forced violations of conscience in federally funded programs."

In their letter to President Obama, Sensenbrenner and Smith wrote, "[W]e respectfully request that you put an end to your Administration's review of the Bush Administration rule that enforces existing conscience protection laws and completely forgo the rescinding of this rule." They went further to "urge you to commit to defending conscience protections in future rulemaking that affects both individual and institutional health care providers."

"If this Administration wants to be the Administration of choice, than all people need to have their choices protected," Sensenbrenner said. "The religious and moral views of health care workers should be respected. Workers should have the right to refuse to participate in an abortion procedure without the fear of losing their job or being discriminated against."

Rep. Smith, co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, said, "We're simply asking President Obama to ensure that his deeds match his words." To make that happen, Smith asked Obama to "simply stop all your efforts, and those of your Administration, to rescind the current conscience regulations that protect the fundamental right to prolife healthcare workers--and Catholic Hospitals--to refuse to participate in procedures that they find morally reprehensible. Protecting conscience is the truly pro-choice position and respects the diversity of opinion in our society as well as the sanctity of life."

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