Bishops Reject Contraception Compromise

By Elizabeth Sepper

It comes as no surprise that tonight the Catholic bishops rejected the White House’s attempts to bend over backward to accommodate religious objections to contraceptive coverage in health insurance plans. The administration’s rules first exempted religious groups. Now the proposed rules allow an even wider array of religiously affiliated employers—including hospitals, insurance companies, social service providers, and universities—to have insurance plans without any coverage of contraception, while making sure their employees can access it. Yet, the bishops are not satisfied.

In court, religiously affiliated employers insist that their concern is religious freedom. But the bishops’ reaction to the administration’s generous proposal suggests they don’t want liberty from the mandate. They want to end it altogether. The general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Anthony Picarello admitted as much just last year, saying that they would not accept any fix that did not remove contraceptive coverage from the Affordable Care Act altogether. Otherwise, “if I quit this job and opened a Taco Bell, I’d be covered by the mandate,” Picarello said. (For a list of for-profit companies challenging the contraceptive coverage mandate, see here (no Taco Bells just yet))

I’d hoped, as E.J. Dionne did, that the Church would accept the Obama administration’s olive branch. But it seems 2013 will be another big year for conscience and contraception.

Thanks to Holly for inviting me to blog for January (I’ve overstayed my welcome!). I very much enjoyed it.

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