Debate continues between the Obama administration and Catholic organizations over a new contraception mandate in health care legislation.  The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Jan. 20 that women would now “have access to the full range of the Institute of Medicine’s recommended preventive services, including all FDA-approved forms of contraception,” an issue previously left unclarified in the health care overhaul of 2010.  The law, which goes into effect Aug.1, 2012, qualified contraception as basic care that must be universally included in plans purchased by all employers excluding those who qualify for a narrow religious exemption.

In the past, the religious exemption was offered to a wider group of organizations such as schools, charities and hospitals who felt that certain legislation violated their religious or moral beliefs.  Now however, as bioethics teacher Elise Italiano explained, “According to the mandate, the only organizations that are exempt from providing this kind of health care coverage [that provides contraception] are religious organizations that exist solely to propagate their religious beliefs to members of their own religious communities such as seminaries or convents.  Catholic hospitals, clinics, and schools, though faithful to the teachings and practices of their faith, also serve members of other religious traditions besides our own as well as persons who are not religious, making us unable to qualify for the exemption.”  

Now employers, such as Georgetown Visitation, with religious beliefs in conflict with the mandate will have an extension until Aug. 1, 2013 to follow the HSS ruling.  The extension was granted to give the administration and the groups involved more time to work on a better policy.

Italiano further explained, “According to Cardinal Wuerl, a school like Visitation would either have to take a penalty of some sort for refusing to violate its religious conscience (which involves cooperation in a grave moral evil) or promise to only educate and serve members of its own religious tradition (which is not part of our history or mission).  You can see we’ve been put in a no-win situation.”

In an attempt to appease religious organizations, the administration announced on Fri., Feb. 10 that organizations with conflicting moral beliefs will not be forced to pay for contraceptive coverage, but employees who want the coverage can request it without raising the premiums paid by their employer.  Catholic organizations continue to speak out against the mandate and the amendment made last Friday.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) responded with a quote from Thomas Jefferson.  In a statement, they wrote, “No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority.”  They argue that the new mandate as well as Friday’s accommodation encroaches on the rights of conscience and religious liberty, and pointed out that a law in effect since 1973 says that no individual is required to take part in “any part of a health service program or research activity funded in whole or in part under a program administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services” if it is “contrary to his religious beliefs or moral convictions” (42 USC 300a-7 (d)).  As a resolution to the conflict, they suggest that the government keep the policy as it has been since 1973.

In a public statement, Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Wuerl addressed the revision made on Friday as inadequate.  He wrote, “Unfortunately, the ‘accommodation’ that the President announced still presents grave moral concerns and continues to violate our constitutionally protected religious liberty.”  The USCCB rejected the so-called “accommodation” and continues to take action by bringing the issue to court.  In the meantime, there is concern over how the outcome of this debate will effect organizations like this school that follow the lead of the Bishop’s Conference.

Italiano said, “I am hopeful that with prayer, fasting, and the petitioning of members of Congress, that our freedom to follow what we know to be right and just will be protected.  I find hope in all of the saints that have gone before us who faced adversity with courage, hope, and, as St. Francis deSales calls it, liberty of spirit.”