U.S. Catholic Bishops Say Obama Contraception-Abortion Mandate Revision Still Falls Short

Writing on behalf of the 270 bishops who govern the Catholic Church in the United States, including the seven who head Florida's dioceses, Archbishop Timothy M. Cardinal Dolan of New York has issued a statementcondemning President Obama's proposed revision of his administration's contraception-abortion mandate on religious and conscientious employers.

"[T]he administration's proposal maintains its inaccurate distinction among religious ministries," writes Dolan, who is president of theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops."It appears to offer second-class status to our first-class institutions in Catholic health care, Catholic education and Catholic charities. [The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] offers what it calls an 'accommodation' rather than accepting the fact that these ministries are integral to our church and worthy of the same exemption as our Catholic churches."

The Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate, implemented pursuant to certain provisions of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), had required that employers obligated to provide health insurance under the new 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 applied to houses of worship or to charitable institutions that primarily employed and served members of one particular sect.

Obama's new proposal broadens the exemption to cover all institutions designated "religious" by the IRS, which would include schools and charities affiliated with a religious denomination but that employ and serve people of other faiths. The exemptions still do not apply to "secular" nonprofits or to for-profit employers who have conscientious objections to subsidizing contraception and abortions for their employees.

But Dolan highlighted problems with the proposed accommodation.

"It appears that the government would require all employees in our 'accommodated' ministries to have the illicit coverage -- they maynotopt out, nor even opt out for their children -- under a separate policy," he said.He also noted that "because of gaps in the proposed regulations, it is still unclear how directly these separate policies would be funded by objecting ministries, and what precise role those ministries would have in arranging for these separate policies. Thus, there remains the possibility that ministries may yet be forced to fund and facilitate such morally illicit activities."

Dolan also said the proposal refuses to acknowledge conscience rights of for-profit business owners who operate their businesses according to their faith and moral values.

"In obedience to our Judeo-Christian heritage, we have consistently taught our people to live their lives during the week to reflect the same beliefs that they proclaim on the Sabbath," Dolan said. "We cannot now abandon them to be forced to violate their morally well-informed consciences."

Dolan concluded:"[W]e welcome and will take seriously the administration's invitation to submit our concerns through formal comments, and we will do so in the hope that an acceptable solution can be found that respects the consciences of all. At the same time, we will continue to stand united with brother bishops, religious institutions, and individual citizens who seek redress in the courts for as long as this is necessary."