A group of religious leaders, including members of President Obama's new Faith Advisory Council, have sent a letter urging him to affirm his commitment to current protections in law for health providers who object to performing certain procedures on religious grounds. Obama is set to repeal a last-minute controversial Bush regulation that bolstered the so-called "conscience rule", but it remains unclear how or if the new President will replace it with a policy clarifying the law.

At her God in Government blog, Michelle Boorstein reports on the letter, signed by Richard Land, Jim Wallis, David Saperstein and Melissa Rogers, among others.

[T]his group of eight yesterday released comments calling for the White House to be not only more specific but to reaffirm its commitment to decades-old federal laws meant to offer some "conscience" protections.
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Those who opposed the Bush regulation to begin with would say existing federal laws already create protections for people opposed to abortion and sterilization. But this document says federal law hasn't gone far enough to protect religious workers.

Meanwhile, at his always-thought-provoking NYTimes blog, Stanley Fish takes on the issue, in an essay worth reading.