Despite a furious lobbying effort by the Catholic Church, the Obama administration today said it won't weaken new rules that will require most health insurance plans to offer women prescription contraceptives at no additional out-of-pocket cost.Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan's response:
The final version of the rules will give religious-based hospitals, universities, charities, and other organizations whose primary purpose is not religious, an additional year to come into compliance with the contraceptive requirement. Churches are exempt.
But even a face-to-face meeting in the Oval Office last November between President Obama and the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops failed to change the administration's position to allow a broader exemption.
The Catholic bishops of the United States called “literally unconscionable” a decision by the Obama Administration to continue to demand that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans. Today's announcement means that this mandate and its very narrow exemption will not change at all; instead there will only be a delay in enforcement against some employers.Cardinal-designate Dolan, if you want fewer abortions, in the name of heaven, stop complaining about persecution, follow the law, and allow employees of the Roman Catholic Church to have access to birth control in health insurance plans and RC hospitals.
“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The cardinal-designate continued, “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable.It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty."
Besides, from another article at NPR:
But while some insist that the rules, which spring from last year's health law, break new ground, many states as well as federal civil rights law already require most religious employers to cover prescription contraceptives if they provide coverage of other prescription drugs.Cardinal-designate Dolan conveniently fails to acknowledge that access to contraceptives is already available in Roman Catholic health plans and hospitals. As to the descriptive 'unconscionable', it depends upon whose conscience is being violated. The decision by the Obama administration has nothing to do with religious liberty, but rather concerns women's equal treatment in health care. Roman Catholics and anyone else are completely at liberty to avoid the use of contraceptives. The issue is that the US will now insist on non-discriminatory rules for health care coverage. What Cardinal Dolan and the RC College of Bishops attempt is to impose their religious views on people who do not share their beliefs, and they need to stop or be stopped.
While some religious employers take advantage of loopholes or religious exemptions, the fact remains that dozens of Catholic hospitals and universities currently offer contraceptive coverage as part of their health insurance packages.
"We've always had contraceptive birth control included in our health care benefits," said Michelle Michaud, a labor and delivery nurse at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, Calif. "It's something that we've come to expect for ourselves and our family."
Amen.
ReplyDeleteI keep trying to remind these folks of their beloved Double Effect doctrine, but they clearly don't want that as a way out. The actual use of contraception in the cases in point are so far removed from their actual agency or action that it should not pose any moral qualm at all -- except for the reality that they don't want it no how, no way, by none!
ReplyDeletechurch sponsors, supervises, etc. school > school provides health insurance > health insurer covers contraception > insured takes advantage of coverage and has contraceptive prescription > person fills prescription and > uses contraception. Only the last step is (under their concept) morally objectionable.
Doxy, thanks.
ReplyDeleteTobias, exactly. The only reason I see that the leadership in the RCC don't use the principle of the double effect is that they might appear to be a changing the rules, which might be viewed as a tacit admission that they were wrong all these years.
The Roman Catholic leaders could also use their get-out-of-hell-free card, "The government made us do it."
Nice to read a well-reasoned post on this. A college friend and RC-convert is frothing at the mouth on face-book. I no longer reply to such posts. There is a scary NYTimes article http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/us/more-protestants-oppose-birth-control.html?scp=1&sq=contraceptives%20evangelicals&st=cse about increasing opposition to birthcontrol.
ReplyDeleteI invite you all to post here (Episcopal Cafe), as The Opposition is sounding off.
ReplyDeletesusankay, no one will succeed in putting the toothpaste back in the tube. Birth control is here to stay, despite the scary article in the NYT. In one telephone poll, Sanctorum is at 13%, despite his conservative bona fides and 7 children. And that's in South Carolina!
ReplyDeleteJCF, the opposition left only one comment at The Lead and a rather silly comment at that, which begins with this:
ReplyDeleteBy taking a job at a Catholic hospital, employees agree to abide by the teachings of that institution with regards to the care it provides, which includes the health care insurance it provides.
Really?
The idea that the Church cannot be in error is a terrible burden.
ReplyDeleteReminds one of the "right" of the Religious Right, RC & Prot Evo alike, to discriminate against gays, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteDaniel then, the load is heavy for the RCC.
ReplyDeleteLapin, once the RCC institutions accept public funds, they must play by the same rules as everyone else without special 'rights'. Of course, no one forces them to take public money.
@Tobias, actually I think one more step is needed, has sexual intercourse.
ReplyDeleteWomen have used the pill to regulate their periods and not just to prevent conception, and, I would guess using it without intercourse would not be considered a sin in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
I suspect the Obama administration looked at the number of Catholics who use contraception and the number who agree with the bishops and decided the former outvote the latter.
@Mimi
ReplyDeleteI think in this case it isn't public funds but that these institutions have employees. If the employees in question were 'ministers', then the they might get away with not providing health coverage (or unemployment insurance, etc.). However in many cases the employees aren't even Catholic and certainly aren't ministers.
Erp, I see what you're saying, and you may be right. Public funding of RCC institutions is not part of the discussion.
ReplyDeleteErp, I should have said that you 'ARE', rather than 'may be', right, about my getting off track with talk of public funding of institutions.
ReplyDeleteFrom an observer across the pond: how easy is it for women to avoid Catholic hospitals and health care providers? Is this a genuine issue or one of those ideological public snowball fights?
ReplyDelete(my word verification is sperm!)
Erika, some smaller communities are served only by a RC hospital, so people would have to travel to avoid the hospital. For others, the health insurance plan limits the choice of hospitals.
ReplyDelete