Monday, January 30, 2012
Obama requires Health Plans to Cover Contraception
The Obama administration reaffirmed that most health insurance plans must cover contraceptives for women, effective August 1, 2012, including health care plans provided by religious organizations to their employees. Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church opposed this recent decision and appealed to President Obama, personally, asking him to grant a broad exemption for religious employers. Leaders of the Catholic Church issued a statement that they would fight the “edict” from the government. Other opponents of this ruling stated they might also challenge it in court as well. Religious leaders who also expressed their concern over this ruling include evangelical, Greek Orthodox and Orthodox Jewish leaders.
This forced President Obama to consider claims made by the Catholic leaders as well as advocates for women’s rights, family planning advocates, scientific experts and members of Congress. Despite protests and debates within the administration, the administration reaffirmed its original position, comprising slightly to include an exemption for certain “religious employers” if it employs or serves large numbers of people of a different faith. Additionally, the administration is giving religious employers who qualify for the exemption and extra year to adapt to the new rule. The contentious issue in this dispute stems from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which reads using contraception is a morally unacceptable means for regulating births, a criterion of morality for the Catholic Church.
Senator Richard Blumenthal , Democrat of Connecticut, described the final rule a victory for women’s health, stating this will “ensure that women have access to full health care services, regardless of their employer, so they can make the best health choices for themselves and their families.” However, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, responded to the final ruling, stating “ . . we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences. . we’re unable to live with this.” It is not the responsibility of the government to uphold the conscience of the church. The government’s interest lies in protecting health services for a segment of society, essentially half the population, while maintaining a respectful, yet delicate, relationship with the church.
The Obama administration deserves credit and should be applauded for acting responsibly. The role of the government is to manage social order and protect the interest of every citizen. In an attempt to manage burdensome and soaring health care costs, President Obama has chosen to correct the broken health care system and include “preventative health services” for every woman. This decision should not be understood as an attack on religion or the Catholic Church. Rather, the Obama administration relied on rational and scientific arguments to defend this ruling, stressing that “scientists have abundant evidence that birth control has significant health benefits for women.” For decades, contraceptive methods (preventative health services) has had severely limited availability for women. This places a burden on women privately and within the health care system. Health care plans with limited access to birth control places women’s health care secondary to other segments of society.
Obama considered arguments on both sides of the issue out of respect for religious liberty and understanding limitations of government interference with the church. The final rule takes a balanced position, respecting religious freedom asserted by the Catholic Church, evidenced by the resulting exemption for certain religious groups. By including the exemption, this rule protects religious liberty while also limiting privilege of religious organizations. Church groups, however, call the exemption narrow and meaningless. This ruling could be only a temporary victory for women’s health with the uncertainty of 2013 elections. It is possible that the church could bring suit to broaden the exemption, which would essentially limit women’s access to fundamental health care.
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