This Week’s Trenton Musings….
February 10th, 2012
Obamacare & Contraceptives
Subject: Obama Wakes the Giant
Outrage has been mounting among Catholics and other religious groups for the past few weeks after the Department of Health and Human Services insisted that religious charities and hospitals will be forced, under the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), to provide insurance coverage for contraception, abortion, and sterilization free of charge. The policy technically contains a religious exemption, but it is so narrow that only churches, not the church-related organizations that do most of the charitable work, would be exempt. As one news outlet observed, not even Christ Himself would have qualified for the exemption.
The mandate so obviously contradicts the conscience freedoms set out in the Constitution that it is difficult to believe the Obama Administration made a sticking point out of it. Nevertheless, it did, and in doing so it alienated not only social conservatives but a huge contingent of progressive Catholics who, despite their own political beliefs, are deeply religious and respect the institutional authority of the church. The public backlash has been enormous, provoking silent-till-now sectors and organizations in both the Protestant and Catholic churches to protest.
In a statement, Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said “Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights.”
Now the administration has proposed a compromise modeled after Hawaii’s policy—allowing religious hospitals and charities an exemption from providing contraceptive coverage, but requiring them to tell patients where such coverage is available. This is a less intractable, but still problematic, conscience issue for many religious groups.
What will become of the proposed compromise is yet to be determined. It still treats contraceptives as a more fundamental bodily need than vitamins, over-the-counter medicines, or food, which are not provided for free. Many religious and conservative groups continue to protest that the compromise still requires the same religious people to subsidize, through their taxes, sexual behaviors they believe are irresponsible. What is certain is that America’s sleeping giant—the church—has awoken to the wolf at its door with an angry jolt, and the furor over this issue will subside only reluctantly.
Wesley Smith pointed out on Friday at the National Review that in view of Obamacare’s probable upcoming review by the Supreme Court, this brouhaha may be very well timed: “I believe that the U.S. Supreme Court may have watched this. There can no longer be any doubt that the administration intends to use the concentration of power it obtained in the Affordable Care Act in an arrogant and hubristic manner. If the Supreme Court finds Obamacare unconstitutional, it might be because this brief political explosion woke the justices up to the real and present dangers posed to American liberty by Obamacare.”
