Latest HHS Mandate “fix” is largely an Obama/Sebelius accounting gimmick
First, here is what the new proposed rules did NOT change:
- Conscience-minded business owners with more than 50 employees will continue to be forced to pay for coverage for contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization procedures. This includes Michigan businessman John Kennedy and Missouri businessman Frank O’Brien, both of whom are represented and defended by our CatholicVote.org Legal Defense Fund.
- Pro-life organizations, schools or charities which are not explicitly religious will still be forced to pay for abortion inducing drugs if they have more than 50 employees.
- The new rules provide NO options for private individuals who seek insurance coverage that respects their conscience.
So what changed?
Some religious nonprofits (schools, hospitals, and charities) are being told they can now “opt out” of the exemption – but in name only. The proposal will allow some of our Catholic colleges, hospitals, and charities to provide coverage that exempts these immoral medicines – BUT – the same insurance company will step in and provide the objectionable services to their employees for free.
By raising a religious objection, some faith-based institutions can now avoid directly paying the insurance company for objectionable medicines and procedures – yet the premiums they pay will go straight to an insurance company that will create a separate policy that will cover the very things these religious employers believe are wrong.
Likewise, self-insured plans like those used by many dioceses and large faith-based groups will be forced to cover their eyes while their plan “Administrator” does the same thing.
Gov. Jindal’s over the counter solution to the onerous HHS Mandate
“As a conservative Republican, I believe that we have been stupid to let the Democrats demagogue the contraceptives issue and pretend, during debates about health-care insurance, that Republicans are somehow against birth control,” Jindal wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
Keeping birth control as prescription medicine, he said, only drives up health care costs with unnecessary doctors’ visits and lines the pockets of pharmaceutical companies. He cites a recent recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that oral contraceptions should be sold over the counter.
At the same time, the pro-life Republican argued against the Obama administration mandate that most employer-based insurance cover contraception, writing that “anyone who has a religious objection to contraception should not be forced by government health-care edicts to purchase it for others.”
Editor’s note: Catholics would be free to practice their faith without government coercion.
Quiz: What do Catholic Relief Services and Melinda Gates have in common?
Catholic Relief Services (CRS), “the official overseas relief and development agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops” has recently given millions to an organization that doles out contraceptives, including abortifacient ‘emergency contraception.’
The most recent CRS annual returns (2010) indicate that the largest CRS grant — $5.3 million — went to CARE, an international “relief and development organization,” that actively promotes and provides contraceptives for women in developing countries, and supports pro-abortion groups and legislation.
According to the 2010 990s, CRS gave $5,380,466 to CARE, which is noted on page 86 of the filing.
Whatever happened to the “all natural approach”? Women are “popping” morning after contraceptives several times each month.
‘What is certain is it contains very high doses of hormones and I would hate to know what it does to hormone levels if taken regularly,’ says Dr Gerada.
‘Every time a woman takes it she’d be risking all the listed side-effects such as heavy bleeding, headaches, nausea and vomiting. Her cycle will also be confused for a while, so she might be pregnant without realising it.’
And while users think they are getting peace of mind, what they don’t realise is that the morning-after pill is a far less reliable form of contraception than most other methods.
If taken within 24 hours of unprotected sex, Levonelle is said to have a 95 per cent success rate, falling to just 58 per cent after 72 hours.
