Should Catholic and Other Religious Institutions Have to Cover Birth Control? >
Religious Exemptions Must Be Employed Judiciously
Family planning is the most effective tool we have in reducing unintended pregnancy and abortion
February 9, 2012
About Jessica Arons:
Jessica Arons is the director of the Women's Health and Rights Program at the Center for American Progress and a member of the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative.
Yes, Catholic hospitals and other religious institutions should be required to cover birth control for their employees. Millions of women are employed by or attend school at religious institutions in this country, and to exempt these institutions would leave these women without coverage for a basic preventive health service that can cost $600 a year.
[New Culture War Will Help Rick Santorum, Barack Obama.]
Family planning results in better health outcomes for women and their children—a woman who has a planned pregnancy is more likely to be in better health when she gets pregnant and more likely to seek prenatal care, and children who are born at least two years apart are healthier. Family planning is also the most effective tool we have in reducing unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion.
Houses of worship are exempt under the Health and Human Services rule guaranteeing no-cost contraceptive coverage. But nonprofits, like hospitals, that serve the general public, employ people of all beliefs, and engage in secular, commercial activities must offer the same health benefits to their employees that any other business must provide. No right is absolute and this is a fair balancing of the competing interests at play.
[Rick Newman: Obama's Common-Sense Deficit.]
Freedom of conscience is a bedrock American principle and religious exemptions can be a useful way to protect conscience, but they must be employed judiciously. Otherwise, issues of conscience become trivialized and turn into excuses for discrimination. If religious employers are allowed to object to contraceptive coverage now, will they one day be able to opt out of covering HIV services, HPV tests, blood transfusions, or end-of-life care? If we are not careful, claims of religious liberty could be exploited by religious organizations to justify noncompliance with laws they prefer to ignore.
The small minority in this country that opposes contraception is entitled to its opinion and is free to preach it as often as it wants. But this very dispute belies the fact that only a fraction of followers practices what is being preached. Only 2 percent of sexually active Catholic women have not used some form of modern birth control. Contraception opponents must not be allowed to resort to economic coercion where persuasion has failed.
[Obamacare Birth Control Mandate Tramples Religious Liberty.]
The HHS rule rightly honors the conscience of women and gives them the freedom to decide whether using contraception is morally correct.
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- Other Arguments
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#110773
No — The First Amendment exists to shield believers and their institutions from exactly this kind of brute force
HANNAH SMITH, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
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#29367
No — The uproar over Obama's choice has to do with more than contraception
JEANNE MONAHAN, Director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council
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#47664
No — The infiltration of the secular state into the faiths of millions of taxpayers is scary
ANDREA S. LAFFERTY, President of Traditional Values Coalition
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#57973
No — Obama is dependent upon continued feminist support for his re-election
JANICE SHAW CROUSE, Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute
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#67268
No — The government's assault on religious faith and practice is broad and deep
PATRICK VAUGHN, General Counsel at American Family Association
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#78790
Yes — Religiously owned or affiliated organizations ought to play by the same rules as other employers
KATHERINE FRANKE, ELIZABETH SEPPER, Scholars at Columbia Law School
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#86771
Yes — Nothing about this new rule will affect a person's ability to practice his or her religion
NANCY KEENAN, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America
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#96873
Yes — No one is telling the Catholic Church that it cannot hold its views on contraception
ROGER N. LANCASTER, Director of Cultural Studies at George Mason University
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#105869
Yes — Contraception is a key component of basic healthcare for women of all faiths
LOUISE MELLING, Deputy Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union
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#115671
Yes — Birth control is not just a convenience but is medically necessary
JOAN HOFF, Research Professor of History at Montana State University
Reader Comments Read all comments (10)
Elizabeth Grant of IL 3:25PM March 21, 2012
Gem of CA 2:25PM March 01, 2012
Aharris of OH 3:16PM February 17, 2012