Time is short

Dear Editor,

This country has always prided itself on encouraging its citizens to worship God according to the dictates of our own consciences. This freedom is one of the pillars on which American strength and independence rests. The worship of God is not confined, however, to the relatively small hours we spend in church services, but should and does penetrate our daily lives and decisions.

In acknowledgement of this vital freedom, the federal Department of Health and Human Services finalized last December a regulation that enforced laws protecting doctors and nurses who are conscientiously opposed to abortion, from being discriminated against or forced to be involved in abortion.

The civil rights laws enforced declare that American tax dollars will not fund programs in which healthcare professionals are fired, penalized, or otherwise subjected to discrimination because of their ethical stance related to abortion and other morally controversial issues.

However, in March 2009, the Obama administration officially declared plans to remove the conscience-protecting regulation. Our law requires a public comment period; this period will end on April 9, 2009.

Abolishing the conscience rule will force innumerable fine doctors, nurses and health care staff out of medicine. It will discourage hundreds of thousands of our young from entering the medical field. It will strike a severe blow to the "health" of our healthcare system.

I hope everyone who has a conscientious objection to forcing medical professionals to involvement in abortion will contact HHS and let them know how wrong this action is:

www.regulations.com Email: proposedrescission@hhs.gov www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection www.freedom2care.org

or write a letter, sending one original and two copies to:

Office of Public Health and Science, Dept. of HHS Attention: Rescission Proposal Comments Hubert Humphrey Building 200 Independence Avenue, Room 716G Washington, D.C. 20201

With the April 9, deadline almost here, there is no time to lose.

Sincerely,

Sondra L. Jonson

Cambridge