The Washington Post reports the Bush administration has announced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers who object to abortion or birth control from being forced to deliver services that violate their personal beliefs. The rule empowers federal health officials to pull funding from nearly 600,000 hospitals, clinics, health plans, doctors’ offices and other entities if they do not accommodate employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable on personal, moral or religious grounds. Women’s health advocates and family planning advocates condemned the regulation, saying it could create sweeping obstacles to a variety of health services, including abortion, family planning, end-of-life care and possibly a wide range of scientific research.