Obama Administration Grants Broader Religious Exemption from HHS Contraception-Abortion Mandate

FOX News reports the Obama administration has announced a broader religious employer opt-out of its controversial contraception-abortifacient mandate.

The Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate, implemented pursuant to certain provisions of Obamacare, had required that employers required to provide health insurance under the Democrats' health care law include provision of all FDA-approved contraceptive and abortion-inducing drugs in their plans. The mandate contained a narrow religious exemption that only applies to houses of worship or to charitable institutions that primarily employed and served members of one particular sect.

The new proposal broadens the exemption to cover all institutions designated "religious" by the IRS, which would include schools and charities which are affiliated with a religious institution but which employ and serve people of other faiths.

The exemptions still do not apply to "secular" employers who have conscientious objections to subsidizing contraception and abortions for their employees.

More to come ...