Obama 'compromise' angers pro-life activists; USCCB response muted

February 10, 2012

Seeking to defuse a political uproar over mandatory coverage of contraception and sterilization in health-care insurance programs, the White House has announced an amended policy, portraying it as an “accommodation” to religious groups. But Catholic activists and pro-life leaders said that the amended policy remains an attack against religious liberty.

The revised plan, announced by President Obama on February 10, attempts to shift the burden of contraceptive coverage from employers to insurers. While some religious employers will be exempt from covering contraception in their health-care policies, their insurance companies will be required to furnish contraceptives to employees of those religious institutions at no additional cost.

The new White House plan drew immediate support from Sister Carol Keehan, the head of the Catholic Health organization, who said that the “accommodation” by the White House "has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed." Sister Keehan--who had been an influential supporter of the Obama administration’s health-care plans, breaking publicly with the US bishops to urge passage of the legislation—had been briefed in advance by the White House about the new plan, and was ready to offer a public statement that was interpreted by many reporters as an indication that Catholics would support the new plan.

Tellingly, pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America also threw their support behind the revised plan.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, on the other hand, quickly said that the administration’s attempt at a compromise was “too little, too late.” Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, the head of the pro-life caucus in Congress, said that the new plan “is the discredited old policy, dressed up to look like something else.”

“It remains a serious violation of religious freedom,” said Rep. Smith. He pointed out that the new plan still requires contraceptive coverage, and although insurance companies pay for that coverage, employers must pay premiums to those insurance companies. “It’s a shell game,” commented Robert Destro, a Catholic University law professor.

The Becket Fund, which representatives three plaintiffs who have already filed suit to block implementation of the contraceptive mandate, described the revised plan as “a false ‘compromise’ designed to protect the President’s re-election chances, not to protect the right of conscience.”

In a fuller analysis of the revised plan, the Becket Fund observed that the exemption offered to religious groups is tightly defined, covering only a small proportion of non-profit groups. Moreover, many large non-profit groups carry their own insurance, so that they would in effect be the “insurance companies” now obligated to pay for contraceptives. Finally, the Becket Fund noted that “money is fungible, and many religious organizations may still object to being forced to pay money to an insurance company which will turn around and provide contraception to its employees for free.”

Although the new Obama policy was introduced as a “compromise,” and President Obama insisted that it answered concerns about religious liberty, a group of prominent pro-life scholars denounced the plan as “morally obtuse.” An open letter signed by former US ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon, Princeton professor Robert George, Notre Dame law professor Carter Snead, Catholic University President John Garvey, and Yuval Levin of the Ethics & Public Policy Center explained their objection:

This so-called “accommodation” changes nothing of moral substance and fails to remove the assault on religious liberty and the rights of conscience which gave rise to the controversy. It is certainly no compromise. The reason for the original bipartisan uproar was the administration’s insistence that religious employers, be they institutions or individuals, provide insurance that covered services they regard as gravely immoral and unjust. Under the new rule, the government still coerces religious institutions and individuals to purchase insurance policies that include the very same services.

In light of the unhappy response from other pro-life leaders, the immediate reaction from the US bishops' conference was curiously muted. A USCCB statement said that the group "sees initial opportunities in preserving the principle of religious freedom" in the new plan, but "continues to express concerns."

New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the president of the US bishops' conference, said that the USCCB would reserve judgment on the plan until the details were available. But he described the White House move as "a first step in the right direction."

“We hope to work with the administration to guarantee that Americans’ consciences and our religious freedom are not harmed by these regulations," Archbishop Dolan concluded.

 

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Further information:

• Obama announces contraception compromise (CNN)
• Obama tweaks birth control rule (USA Today)
• White House compromise still guarantees contraceptive coverage for women (Washington Post)
• Obama Acts to Calm Furor on Birth Control Coverage Rule (New York Times)
• Catholic group backs revised Obama birth control policy (AP)
• Pro-life leaders slam White House ‘compromise’ on birth control mandate (LifeSiteNews)
• Obama Administration Offers False “Compromise” on Abortion-Drug Mandate (Becket Fund)
• Unacceptable — former Vatican Ambassador, Prof. Robert George, others respond (CatholicVote.org)
• Bishops Studying Initial White House Movement On Religious Liberty (USCCB)