A piece of legislation was passed hours before Barack Obama’s inauguration in January: a rule imposed by the Bush administration to protect health workers who chose to refuse treatments and information on moral grounds. Today, the US Health and Human Services Department said that the rule could soon be “[rescinded] in its entirety,”.

Though Bush administration officials have since claimed that the rule was put in place, however last-minute, to protect health care workers with varying personal beliefs, critics and HHS representatives have cited exploitation of the rule. It has been argued that the vague wording of the rule meant that some health professionals invoked it in order to deny people all manner of routine privileges: contraceptives, family planning advice, and even vaccines and blood transfusions.

Abortion-rights groups have praised President Obama for looking to rescind the rule, which they argue “serves only to undermine patients’ access to vital health care services and information, and poses especially grave risks to women’s health and lives,”.

This news comes alongside another reviewing of Bush’s policy today, in which President Obama plans to increase stem cell funding.

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