Press Release

(Washington, DC) Tony Hileman, executive director of the American Humanist Association said, “The House of Representatives approved a bill yesterday that would impede women’s access to reproductive health care, severely limiting legal family planning options.

“This bill clearly violates the principle of church-state separation by guaranteeing that federal funds will flow to Roman Catholic and other sectarian hospitals that refuse to provide the full range of women’s health care services. What’s next? Will my tax dollars go to support faith healing centers or hospitals that won’t perform transplants for religious reasons?”

This bill goes further by allowing federally funded hospitals and care centers the option of not even providing referral services for those women seeking information on reproductive care options. It would also allow HMOs and insurance companies a money saving loophole where they can pressure health care providers to withhold information about abortion services from patients. There are not even safeguards in this legislation that would protect women who are victims of rape and incest from the right to seek necessary services.

Hileman continues, “This politically and religiously motivated bill would lead to denied access to information and denied services based on sectarian belief.

“The right to choose is a freedom that must be protected. As stated in AHA’s Resolution on a Woman’s Right to Abortion, we affirm the ‘moral right of women to freely terminate unwanted pregnancies.’ We call on the Senate to reject this attack on women’s rights and the constitutional separation of religion and government.”