Thursday, February 2, 2012

Alert from Alert from Northern Division Legislative Issues Chair

Under the guise of doing good for the downtrodden, the Obama administration has reaffirmed a rule under Obamacare that requires many religious employers to provide health care coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures and related education and counseling. Many groups believe that certain FDA-approved contraceptive methods can sometimes cause the demise of embryos both after and before uterine implantation and therefore that the rule forces them to cover abortion.

Many religious groups object to the requirement and believe that providing these services is an attack on freedom of religion. The Becket Fund For Religious Liberty has filed a lawsuit on behalf of an interdenominational Christian College that objects to providing these services in its health care insurance.

The rule provides a narrow exemption for “houses of worship” but it burdens their affiliated institutions, schools and hospitals with the rule. If no exemption is provided from this mandate, many religious institutions will have no choice but to stop making group health plans available to their employees and pay any fines for failure to do so.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has introduced Senate Bill 2043 in Congress. The bill would require the Department of Health and Human Services to respect conscience protections for religious institutions and not force them to carry abortifacients and other drugs as part of their health coverage.

If the administration can get away with this rule, who knows what else is in Obama care that will restrict everything we do.

I recommend that you contact our Senators and Senator Reid. He needs to know that this bill must come to the floor for a vote.

Senator Barbara Boxer - (202) 224-3553 - Fax: (202) 224-0454
Senator Diane Feinstein - (202) 224-3841 - Fax: (202) 228-3954
Senator Harry Reid - (202) 224-3542 - Fax: (202) 224-7327

Thank you for your work.

Edelweiss Geary
Legislative Issues Chair
Northern Division - CFRW ◼ www.cfrwnd.org
www.cfrwnd.org