{"id":2464,"date":"2013-03-31T23:59:27","date_gmt":"2013-03-31T23:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=2464"},"modified":"2013-04-01T07:06:20","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T07:06:20","slug":"update-on-american-hhs-birth-control-mandate-controversy-march-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=2464","title":{"rendered":"Update on American HHS birth control mandate controversy: March, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A judge of the St. Louis Federal\u00a0District Court struck down parts of a <strong>Missouri<\/strong> law\u00a0 ensuring freedom of conscience for those objecting to\u00a0paying for contraceptive coverage and abortion drugs in\u00a0their health plans. [<a href=\"http:\/\/stlouisreview.com\/print\/25195\" target=\"_blank\">St. Louis Review<\/a>]\u00a0 To date, 10 <em>amicus curiae<\/em> briefs have been filed by Americans United for Life in support of lawsuits against the U.S. federal government regulation that requires objecting business owners to provide health insurance coverage for contraceptives, embryocides, and surgical sterilization.\u00a0[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/aul-files-tenth-brief-supporting-first-amendment-freedom-of-conscience-as-constitutional-challenges-to-obamacare-continue-197283621.html\" target=\"_blank\">AUL news release<\/a>]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities,has asked members of the <strong>U.S. House of\u00a0Representatives\u00a0<\/strong>to support the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consciencelaws.org\/law\/proposed\/usa-federal-019.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Health Care Conscience Rights Act of 2013.H.R. 940, <\/a>which includes provisions to prevent objecting businesses or individuals from being forced to provide \u00a0health insurance coverage for contraceptives, embryocides, and surgical sterilization. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/news\/2013\/13-047.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">USCCB news release<\/a>]\u00a0 Attorneys General of 13 states (Ohio,\u00a0Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia) have written to the federal government asking that the proposed exemptions for objectors to the regulation be broadened to include private employers. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/content\/stories\/local\/2013\/03\/30\/dewine-backs-wider-religious-exemption.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Columbus Dispatch<\/em><\/a>].\u00a0 More than 147,000 people and groups have made formal comments about the proposed regulation, 30 times more than the comments made on the next most-commented-upon rule. [<a href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/healthwatch\/health-reform-implementation\/289929-birth-control-rules-drawing-record-comments-analysis-finds?\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Hill<\/em><\/a>]\u00a0 Meanwhile, the <strong>U.S. Senate<\/strong>, which is controlled by the Democratic Party, voted down a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consciencelaws.org\/law\/proposed\/usa-federal-018.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">measure<\/a> that would have stopped funding for enforcment of the regulation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/news\/2013\/13-047.cfm\">\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A judge of the St. Louis Federal\u00a0District Court struck down parts of a Missouri law\u00a0 ensuring freedom of conscience for those objecting to\u00a0paying for contraceptive coverage and abortion drugs in\u00a0their health plans. [St. Louis Review]\u00a0 To date, 10 amicus curiae briefs have been filed by Americans United for Life in support of lawsuits against the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=2464\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Update on American HHS birth control mandate controversy: March, 2013&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[643,9,28],"tags":[183],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-catholicism","category-news","category-usa","tag-hhs-preventive-services-mandate"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>Update on American HHS birth control mandate controversy: March, 2013 - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=2464\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Update on American HHS birth control mandate controversy: March, 2013 - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A judge of the St. Louis Federal\u00a0District Court struck down parts of a Missouri law\u00a0 ensuring freedom of conscience for those objecting to\u00a0paying for contraceptive coverage and abortion drugs in\u00a0their health plans. 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