Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
Senators Joe Manchin and Mario Rubio have introduced “Bill S2092 -the Religious Freedom Protection Act of 2012.” The bill is drafted to stop the Department of Health and Human Services regulation enacted by the Obama administration for the purpose of forcing employers to pay for insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and drugs. The bill offers protection to individuals and entities opposed to facilitating such services for reasons of conscience or religion.
The Attorney General of Michigan has announced that the state will file briefs in support of three court cases that have been launched to stop the Obama administration from forcing objecting employers to pay for insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs. [News release]
The 16,000-member Christian Medical Association has protested the Obama admininstration’s plan to force objecting employers to provide insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs. CMA CEO Dr. David Stevens said that the regulation “violates the First Amendment rights and sensibilities of any individual or organization morally committed to life-honoring faith principles,” adding that it “tramples the conscience rights of health care professionals” and “fits a deplorable pattern of disregard for First Amendment freedoms.” [News release]
A Hawaiian law concerning insurance for contraceptive coverage has been cited as a model for a possible compromise between the Obama administration and religious groups that have made clear that they will resist or refuse to obey its new birth control regulation. Organizations in Hawaii that object to contraception for religious reasons may decline to provide health insurance coverage for it if they advise employees that it is not available and tell them where coverage can be obtained. It is reported that it is generally successful, but that there are some problems with the arrangement. [NCR]
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has written to Attorneys General in the other 49 US states inviting them to join a court case that will be launched by Nebraska to stop the Obama administration from forcing objecting employers to pay for insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs. He described the adminstration regulation as “an unconscionable intrusion on religious liberties.” [Associated Press]