Federal Birth Control Mandate Meets Catholic Moral Resistance

ForexTV NewsDesk   |  January 30 2012 5:32 EST

ForexTV.com (New York) by Chikako Shitani

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service administration announced last week that almost all employers - religious employersincluding Church run school employers or any church linked hospital or related charity organization will be forced to offer their employees' health coverage that includes sterilization, and contraception. Employers who fail to provide this insurance will face heavy fines.  

Catholic leaders were outraged when the administration decided on Jan. 20 it would not exclude most religious employers from this mandate, including those who  have moral objections to what some of their lawyers describe as "abortion-reminder drugs." Catholic organizations are resisting the rule, bringing it would force them to violate their beliefs and finance behavior that it is against Catholic fundamental teaching.

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan in New York, president of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, described  the mandate as "unconscionable," saying the church should not be obligated "to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs."

At issue was a controversial issue between the rights of church employers and the government's interest in protecting the rights of employees. The administration had backed a job-bias suit filed by a teacher who was fired by a Lutheran school. Churches and church schools are not exempt from civil rights claims, the administration argued.

Women's rights groups welcomed the administration's decision and said it means better and easier access to healthcare for tens of millions of American women. "This is good health policy and good economic policy," said Dawn Laguens, vice president from Planned Parenhood. "It increases access to affordable birth control, but it is up to an individual employee to choose it or not. That's very much the American way." Institude of Medicine, an independent group of doctors and researchers concluded that birth control is not just a convinience but is medically necessary “to ensure women’s health and well-being.”

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