Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
Sisters for Life, a Catholic religious order in New York City, has protested the Department of Health and Human Services regulation that will force them to buy insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs. [Statement]
The House Judiciary Committee in the Arizona state legislature has approved HB 2625, which will amend state legislation to provide a religious exemption to the state’s own mandate for insurance coverage for contraception. The amendment will also revoke the narrow definition of “religious employer” that was copied in the federal regulation at the centre of a controversy about religious freedom in the United States.
Representatives of Judaism and Christianity appeared before the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to explain the reasons for their opposition to the Obama administration’s plan to force employers to provide insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs.
Some committee members protested because only two women appeared as witnesses. However, Dr. Laura Champion explained, “This is not about politics, this is not about contraception, and this is not about depriving women of health care. Rather, this is personal. This is about my daily life as a physician, a Christian, and a Medical Services Director.”
John H. Garvey, President of the Catholic University of America, said that the regulation “makes hypocrites of us all, in the most important lessons we teach.” Dr. Allison Garrett of Oklahoma Christian University told the Committee that the alternative scheme proposed by the administration “does not present a workable solution. The Administration has not yet proposed anything new. . . All the Administration has offered to do is to discuss the issue further.”
The Committee heard from ten witnesses.
The Department of Health and Human Services regulation that will force employers to provide insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs has been published in the US Federal Register. Contrary to an administration statement on 10 February, 2012, the regulation has not been changed to accommodate objecting religious believers. The wording and legal effect of the regulation remains exactly as it was when it was announced on 20 January, 2012. The accompanying commentary on the regulation by the Obama administration offers mainly socio-political and ecnomic reasons for it. The commentary makes several promises about what the administration plans to do, but none of these will be effective until after the presidential election in November, 2012.
The Obama administration’s alternative scheme for providing insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs is being marketed as cost-free by its supporters. They argue that the coverage can be provided by insurance companies without additional cost to the employer because it is actually cheaper to offer health insurance with birth control coverage than without it. Others insist that costs will be passed on to the employer through insurance premiums. [Time; NPR]