Breaking: Obama to rescind HHS regulation

Hallelujah. Remember Bush’s parting gift, the last minute HHS rule that not only allows health care providers to define contraception as abortion, but allows them to deny health care based on their moral or religious reasons? Well, folks are saying that President Obama plans to move to repeal the regulation today. Via AP:

The Obama administration is moving to rescind a federal rule that reinforced protections for medical providers who refuse to perform abortions or other procedures on moral grounds, an official said Friday.
A Health and Human Services official said the administration will publish notice of its intentions early next week, and open a 30-day comment period for advocates, medical groups and the public. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official notice has not been completed.
The Bush administration instituted the rule in its last days, and it was quickly challenged in federal court by several states and medical organizations. As a candidate, President Barack Obama criticized the regulation and campaign aides promised that if elected, he would review it.

Looks like we’ll have another 30-day comment period to take action despite the fact that over 200,000 people submitted their opposition to the regulation originally, so we’ll keep you posted on where to send your comments. In the meantime, I’m keeping confidence that Obama will put this shit to bed already. Thank him in advance.