Richard Cook

I request you consider the following as you draft the rules for the religious accommodation needed for the Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act. The concern to be addressed is religious belief regarding two issues classed under Woman’s Health as contraceptives. The first is contraceptives. That is not my issue. My concern is abortifacients. Most Christians believe as I do that life begins at conception. And that anything that interrupts that pregnancy is abortive. Since abortifacients are included as a contraceptive I feel it should qualify as separate standalone reason for an accommodation. Here is an excerpt from the Hippocratic Oath. “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.” Creating an accommodation class for abortifacients will solve many problems with pending and future lawsuits challenging constitutionality of the Act based on violation of the First Amendment as well as new concerns forced on the medical community. Using the same proposed remedy for contraceptives would be the solution. In addition it would be less costly to fund based on the number of incidents. Using abortifacients as emergency care by a medical doctor is not the issue. Using abortifacients as birth control is a problem for all individuals that believe life begins at conception. I fully understand that so called Morning After drugs are available for all individuals 18 years old and older. Also, I request that they not be included in any future changes by Health and Human Services. Respectfully I appreciate the opportunity for input. Richard L. Cook 8422 Bergen Drive Cordova, Tennessee 38018-7314