This is like the pharmacists who couldn't be forced to do their job by perscribing birth control pills.

Because it's not like a willingness to actually do your job should be a hiring concern or anything.

The one silver lining is that an administrative rule can also be repealed by the agency, such as when it is staffed by a Democratic appointee.  Also, rulemaking generally takes a long time - what is the quickest that this could be adopted?

That's not even the worst part of the whole thing- this is how this proposal wants to define abortion:

The proposal defines abortion as follows: "any of the various procedures -- including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action -- that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."

I read  about this on DK earlier (diary here).
Here is the actual text from the definitions part of the proposal:

Abortion: An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy.  There
are two commonly held views on the question of when a pregnancy
begins.  Some consider a pregnancy to begin at conception (that is, the
fertilization of the egg by the sperm), while others consider it to
begin with implantation (when the embryo implants in the lining of the
uterus).  A 2001 Zogby International American Values poll revealed that
49% of Americans believe that human life begins at conception.
Presumably many who hold this belief think that any action that
destroys human life after conception is the termination of a pregnancy,
and so would be included in their definition of the term "abortion."
Those who believe pregnancy begins at implantation believe the term
"abortion" only includes the destruction of a human being after it has
implanted in the lining of the uterus.

The proposal continues,

Both definitions of pregnancy
inform medical practice.  Some medical authorities, like the American
Medical Association and the British Medical Association, have defined
the term "established pregnancy" as occurring after implantation. Other
medical authorities present different definitions.  Stedman's Medical
Dictionary, for example, defines pregnancy as "[t]he state of a female
after conception and until the termination of the gestation."
Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines pregnancy, in relevant part, as
"the condition of having a developing embryo or fetus in the body,
after union of an oocyte and spermatozoon.

It seems that the HHS wants to define pregnancy according to a Zogby poll, doesn't it?

This is the first step to outlawing contraceptives- redefine "pregnancy", make abortions illegal, and then outlaw most contraceptives such as the pill because they don't prevent conception, but do prevent implantation.