I was already in a kinda pissy mood, but in the Keep Your Hands Off Our Ovaries, Uteri and Other Reproductive Organs and Go Play With Yourselves Because You’re Sure Not Gonna Get It Here Dept., the Bush Brigade,

“(W)ants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.”

As Feministing points out,

“The rule defines “abortion” so broadly that it could also apply to birth control pills and emergency contraception. And because the rule would apply to federal health programs, low-income and uninsured women will be most affected.”

Cristina Page at RH Reality Check explains the chilling ramifications of this proposal:

“Up until now, the federal government followed the definition of pregnancy accepted by the American Medical Association and our nation’s pregnancy experts, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which is: pregnancy begins at implantation. With this proposal, however, HHS is dismissing medical experts and opting instead to accept a definition of pregnancy based on polling data. It now claims that pregnancy begins at some biologically unknowable moment (there’s no test to determine if a woman’s egg has been fertilized). Under these new standards there would be no way for a woman to prove she’s not pregnant. Thus, any woman could be denied contraception under HHS’ new science.”

Planned Parenthood has a statement here. Stay tuned, we suspect we’ll hear more on this, but for now, spread the word, let’s stop this hateful, misogynist crap before it starts. Go to NARAL to let your Congressional Rep. know what you think. And do check out the very righteous graphic with the Feministing post (link above).