The Cherokee Nation this year assumed operation of W.W. Hastings Indian Medical Center, as well as the clinics it operates in its 14-county jurisdiction in northeastern Oklahoma.

Dr. Gloria Graham, Cherokee Nation medical director, said she believes the Cherokee Nation staff is in compliance with the guidelines.

“We are still looking at the final rule and its implications on our health system. We feel that we are already in compliance with the ‘right of conscience’ directive. We will closely follow developments and monitor for any needed updates to our current policies and practices,” she said.

“Any conflict will be resolved in a manner that does not negatively affect the care and treatment of patients,” she said. “Our first priority is to provide the highest possible level of care to our patients.”

The rule requires recipients of federal funding to certify their compliance with laws protecting conscience rights.

Despite multiple laws on the books protecting health providers, the administration argued that the rule was needed “to raise awareness of federal conscience protections and provide for their enforcement,” according to the AP report.

But many groups described the rule as a last-minute push designed to make it harder for women to get services such as contraception or counseling in the event they are pregnant and want to learn all of their options.

Several medical associations, more than 100 members of Congress, governors and 13 attorneys general were among the many thousands who wrote the department to protest the rule after it was proposed. Opponents didn’t like the rule any better after it was finalized.

The rule has raised criticism across the country from advocates of reproductive choice.

For example, Alison Gee, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood of Southwest Missouri, denounced it in a letter to the editor published Tuesday in the Springfield, Mo., News-Leader. She called the ruling “a midnight regulation” and “a parting gift to women before he [Bush] leaves office.”

“Because of ambiguous language and leaving terms like ‘abortion’ undefined, health care workers can use the rule to deny access to most forms of birth control based on their own personal beliefs,” Gee said.

She said beginning in January, emergency rooms can refuse to give emergency contraception to rape victims and medical professionals may choose not to discuss all birth control options with patients.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America said about 200,000 people submitted comments opposing the rule, including about 90,000 comments from its supporters.

Planned Parenthood and others who support wide access to birth control believe such access will prevent abortions by preventing more unwanted pregnancies.

Help-In-Crisis works not only with victims of rape and sexual abuse, but with women who want to regain control of their lives, including their reproductive freedom.