Ack! Ack! Ack!

I found this out from TPM:

On Friday, nine female Senators, including Olympia Snowe (R-ME), sent a letter to chair of the Appropriations Committee Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), requesting that the language of the clause be changed and protesting the fact that the Federal Refusal Clause had not been discussed in committee, nor had it been put to a vote on the Senate floor. According to the women Senators, the clause, sponsored by Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL), would “allow a broad range of health-care companies refuse to comply with federal, state, and local laws and regulations pertaining to abortion services. Should this provision become law, federal, state, or local governments may no longer require any institutional or individual health-care provider to provide, pay for, or refer abortion services. This will mean that medical providers in hospitals and clinics across the country will likely be victims of demonstrations and intimidation as this provisions allows that they be forbidden from providing abortion care to women who need it, and also to deny women referrals to another provider.”

Moreover, according to the women Senators, the provision “will interfere with the authority of Attorneys General to reject, approve, or impose terms on the sale or transfer of asset by nonprofit health entities as under current law. For example, an attorney General could no longer reject a merger proposal on the grounds that the result would be diminished community access to full reproductive health services.”

Congress Passes "Back-Door" Abortion Gag Rule