Bishops Reject White House’s New Plan on Contraception
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: February 11, 2012
The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have rejected a compromise on birth
control coverage that President Obama offered on Friday and said they
would continue to fight the president’s plan to find a way for employees
of Catholic hospitals, universities and service agencies to receive
free contraceptive coverage in their health insurance plans, without
direct involvement or financing from the institutions.
Related
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Rule Shift on Birth Control Is Concession to Obama Allies (February 11, 2012)
Related in Opinion
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Op-Ed Columnist: Beyond Pelvic Politics (February 12, 2012)
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
— which has led the opposition to the plan — said in a statement late
Friday that the solution offered by the White House to quell a political
furor was “unacceptable and must be corrected” because it still
infringed on the religious liberty and conscience of Catholics.
The bishops’ decision to rebuff the compromise means that “religious
freedom” will continue to be a rallying cry for some Catholics who have
heard it preached from the pulpit for the last three weeks, for
evangelical Christians on the religious right, for Republican candidates
on the campaign trail and for members of Congress who are supporting a
legislative fix on Capitol Hill.
Administration officials said the White House had never expected to get
the bishops’ support, given their absolute opposition to contraception,
and was surprised when the initial statement of the bishops conference
on Friday was noncommittal and went so far as to call the president’s
modification a step in the right direction.
Mr. Obama said that the compromise would take the Catholic institutions
out of the equation by relieving them from either paying for coverage
for contraceptives or providing any referral to their employees for the
coverage. Instead, insurance companies would be required to pay for the
contraceptives, and to arrange it. The insurers will agree, the White
House said, because it is more expensive for them to pay for pregnancies
than to pay for contraceptives.
Churches and houses of worship that object to birth control coverage are
already exempted. The compromise applies to primarily Catholic
institutions, such as hospitals, universities and charities, that employ
and serve large numbers of non-Catholics.
The bishops said the plan offered insufficient protection for their
institutions: “In the case where the employee and insurer agree to add
the objectionable coverage, that coverage is still provided as a part of
the objecting employer’s plan, financed in the same way as the rest of
the coverage offered by the objecting employer. This, too, raises
serious moral concerns.” The Obama administration plans to hold a series
of meetings in the coming days and will invite the bishops and other
religious leaders to collaborate on developing the new policy, said an
administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record.
“I guess we’ll try to treat that constructively,” said Richard M.
Doerflinger, associate director of pro-life activities at the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “But within the meantime we also
have to explore other avenues, and there are two other branches of
government that may treat our concerns more seriously.”
Already three lawsuits have been filed against the birth control
mandate, two by religious colleges and one by a Catholic media outlet.
The bishops will also renew their call for lawmakers to pass the
“Respect for Rights of Conscience Act,” which would exempt both
insurance providers and purchasers — and not just those who are
religiously affiliated — from any mandate to cover items of services
that is contrary to either’s “religious beliefs or moral convictions.”
The Senate version of the bill was introduced by Senators Roy Blunt of
Missouri, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, all
Republicans. It has 36 Republican sponsors and co-sponsors, and one
Democratic one — Ben Nelson of Nebraska.
However, the bishops are now facing a potential rift with some of their
allies who welcomed the compromise yesterday — including Catholic
Charities, the Catholic Health Association, which represents Catholic
hospitals across the country and individual Catholic Democrats and
liberals who had helped persuade the administration to make the change.
James Salt, executive director of Catholics United, a liberal advocacy
group that is organizing support for the Obama administration, said,
“The bishops’ blanket opposition appears to serve the interests of a
political agenda, not the needs of the American people.”
The bishops had initially called the compromise “a first step in the
right direction.” But late Friday they released a second statement
saying that the plan raised “a grave moral concern.” Mr. Doerflinger
said the reason was that they did not see the rule itself until 7 p.m.;
the administration official said, however, that the new rule had not
been written yet because the details had not been hashed out, and that
the bishops must have read the old rule.
The bishops also were dismayed that the administration did not consult
them in crafting the compromise, presenting it to them as a fait
accompli.
Mr. Doerflinger said, “We were not part of the negotiation and we were told there wasn’t one by the White House.”
The bishops used the turn of events to renew their objections to the broad requirement that was part of the sweeping health care overhaul
passed in 2010 that any employer who has a moral or religious objection
— even a small business owner — must offer birth control in their
insurance coverage because it is preventive care.
“All the other mandated ‘preventive services’ prevent disease, and pregnancy is not a disease,” the bishops said.